After a very successful Tour de France Grand Départ in 2014, the pro peloton returns to the UK for the first Tour de Yorkshire. The three-day race will be held on some of the same hilly roads as the first two stages of last year’s Tour de France, so bunch sprints cannot be assumed. 

At the Tour de Yorkshire Team Giant-Alpecin sprinter Marcel Kittel (GER) will return to the peloton after a period without racing due to sickness. Kittel has good memories of Yorkshire, as he was the fastest in stage 1 of last year’s Tour and consequently wore the yellow jersey on stage 2. 

Team Giant-Alpecin comes to the UK with a mixed team with fast legs including Bert De Backer (BEL), Tom Stamsnijder (NED) and Ramon Sinkeldam (NED), supplemented by climbers Lawson Craddock (USA), Caleb Fairly (USA) and Fredrik Ludvigsson (SWE), who come fresh out of the Ardennes classics. For cyclo-cross specialist Lars van der Haar (NED), this will be the first stage race as a member of the WorldTour team. 
 
“At first glance the stages seem relatively flat, but from last year’s Tour we know that they include some difficult categorized as well as uncategorized hills. We will start with a diverse team and aim for good stage results.

“It will be Kittel’s first race back, so we need to give him the opportunity to find his race rhythm again,” explained coach Marc Reef.