Racing

Five things we learned from the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire

Yorkshire shines again as Lars-Petter Nordhaug bags victory

Hitting the ground running

Lars Petter Nordhaug sealed overall victory at the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire in 2015 (pic: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)
Team Sky led the peloton on stage one and, after Ben Swift crashed out, Nordhaug seized his opportunity to shine (pic: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com)
Erick Rowsell, pictured after winning the Tour of the Reservoir, has enjoyed a successful start to life with Madison-Genesis (pic: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)
Thomas Voeckler finished third, his best result of the season (pic: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)
Fans packed into Bridlington for the start of the first stage - an estimated 1.5 million fans lined the roadsides over the three days (pic: Chris Etchells/SWpix.com)
Samuel Sanchez leads the five-man break up the Cote de Robin Hood's Bay - the short, sharp climbs decimated the peloton (pic: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

Hitting the ground running

Ten months on from the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ and the eyes of the cycling world were once again fixed on the north of England for the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire.

Lars-Petter Nordhaug sealed overall victory thanks to a strong Team Sky effort on stage three, while Ben Hermans of BMC Racing kicked off the front to solo to victory in Leeds.

Nordhaug seized control of the race on stage one, winning from a five-man group just hours after team leader – and local rider – Ben Swift had crashed on a slick descent during an incident-packed day. While Swift’s race was over barely after it begun, Nordhaug ensured Team Sky fans – among the 1.5 million people said to have lined the route over the weekend – still had plenty to cheer.

Sandwiched between Nordhaug’s stage win and Hermans’ triumph came LottoNL-Jumbo’s first victory courtesy of Moreno Hofland in York on stage two.

What else did we learn from the first edition of Britain’s newest stage race? Here are our observations from the weekend’s action.