Tour de Yorkshire: Nottinghamshire celebrates cycling legend

yorkshire, race, cycle, nottinghamshire,
JThomas

The Tour de Yorkshire is passing through Nottinghamshire on Saturday and will see elite cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Lizzie Armitstead cycle past the Tom Simpson memorial stone.

The organisers included the county on the route for the race to pay tribute to cycling legend Simpson, who died during a race in 1967.

Chris Sidwells, the nephew of Simpson, regularly updates a museum dedicated to his famous uncle located at Harworth and Bircotes sports and social club on Scrooby Road.

The celebrations will fill me with pride

He said: “Harworth and Bircotes has always celebrated my uncle’s life and the visit of the Tour de Yorkshire will be very special to once again remember him and his achievements.

“The celebrations will fill me with pride.”

The memorial stone for Simpson is located outside the Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social club.

The women’s race is due to enter Harworth at 11.28am. The men’s race is due to enter the town at 4.57pm between Tickhill and Bawtry.

Spectators are advised to arrive at 10.15am for the women’s race and 3.30pm for the men’s race to avoid delays due to road closures for the race.

yorkshire, race, cycle, nottinghamshire,

Picture: The race will enter at Harworth and Bircotes along Tickhill Road, passing Scrooby Road, before leaving the town via the A614.

Nottinghamshire County Council, Bassetlaw District Council, Harworth and Bircotes Town Council, and local groups will be taking part in this weekend’s celebrations.

Councillor Simon Greaves, Leader of Bassetlaw District Council said: “Bassetlaw is extremely proud to call Tom Simpson one of our own and his extremely successful and distinguished career inspired generations of cyclists across the world.

“For the Tour de Yorkshire to honour his memory and legacy by visiting Harworth and Bircotes is a fitting tribute to a former World Champion.”

Tommy Simpson Fact file

  • An Olympic bronze medal in the team pursuit as a member of the Great Britain team that competed in the 1956 Melbourne Games
  • A silver medal for England, in the individual pursuit, at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff
  • In the Tour of Flanders in 1961, he became the first British rider to win a classic for 65 years. He went on to victory in the Bordeaux-Paris 1963, Milan-San-Remo 1964, the Giro di Lombardia 1965 and Paris-Nice 1967
  • In 1962 he became the first Briton to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and in 1965 when he won the world professional road race championship in San Sebastian, Spain
  • Simpson was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the first cyclist ever to win that title
  • Tom was ascending Mont Ventoux in the 13th stage of the Tour de France – from Marseille to Avignon – when he collapsed and fell from his bike twice, and despite being airlifted by helicopter to hospital, he could not be revived and died, aged 29

The streets will be decked out in yellow, with Tom Simpson banners on display, and lots of leisure activities taking place throughout the day to keep spectators entertained.

Last year’s inaugural Tour de Yorkshire race was watched by an estimated one million people and brought an estimated £50 million into the region’s economy.

The event was launched after Yorkshire hosted the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014.

There will be road closures no longer than an hour, at the start and the end of the race.

Closures will be managed by police and Doncaster Council, with more details on the Tour de Yorkshire website.

More information about the race and event details can be found on the Welcome to Yorkshire website.

(Visited 100 times, 1 visits today)