Yorkshire ready for t'Grand Départ

Buttertub Pass, Yorkshire Dales

CHRIS FROOME begins the defence of his Tour de France title tomorrow as the world's biggest annual sporting event starts in the unfamiliar surroundings of Yorkshire.

It is actually not that unusual for the Grand Départ of Le Tour to take place outside of France - in fact, this will be the 20th occurrence since idea was first implemented in Amsterdam in 1954.

And, largely done for financial gain by aiming to spread interest in the event, this will be the fourth time that Le Tour has come to Britain.

In 1974, the race visited for the first time with a one-day circuit stage in Plymouth - while the other two previous occasions are both in the last 20 years.

In 1994, Le Tour celebrated the opening of the Channel Tunnel with stages in Dover and Portsmouth.

Meanwhile, in 2007, London hosted the Grand Départ with a prologue time-trial before a full stage to Canterbury in Kent the next day.

It seems quite appropriate in a way for Le Tour to begin in Britain this year considering this country's recent success in the event.

Indeed, after 99 editions without a British winner, the last two have been won by Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Kenya-born Froome last year.

Of course, this has had the consequent effect of producing a simmering rivalry between the Team Sky team-mates - and, to some discord, it is Wiggins who has been dropped from the squad for 2014.

Olympic champion Wiggins now seems certain to move onto pastures new - but Froome will not bother himself worrying about that: he has a maillot jaune to retain.

The maillot jaune - or yellow jersey - is won by the leader of the general classification, i.e. the rider who has taken, cumulatively, the least amount of time to complete the race.

The three other jerseys are the maillot blanc - the white jersey - used to denote the best-placed rider under 26 years of age; the maillot a pois - the polka-dot jersey - worn by the King of the Mountains, the rider who has performed best on the mountain stage; and the maillot vert - the green jersey.

The green jersey is given to the rider who has picked up the most points during Le Tour, gained by winning stages and being the first to reach various points along the route. It rewards consistently good finishers and is usually won by a sprinter.

Britain has also had success in this category in recent years with Mark Cavendish winning it in 2011.

The Manxman, who has 25 stage wins altogether, was also an overall runner-up in 2009, 2010 and last year. Slovakian Peter Sagan, who has won for the last two years, is the man to beat.

The route: from Yorkshire to Paris
To begin its latest visit to Britain, Le Tour sets off from Harewood in West Yorkshire after a ceremonial roll-out from the city of Leeds.

The opening day finishes in the pretty spa town of Harrogate before the riders reconvene in York city centre on Sunday for a tougher second stage to Sheffield.

On the way to the Steel City, the competitors will ride right through Bronte country, visiting Haworth itself and then later Holmfirth where the Last of the Summer Wine was set.

And, having survived the treacherous cross-winds across the moors, the field may be split again as they take on Jenkin Road in Sheffield, a notoriously steep hill with a 33% gradient.

The peloton get it easier on day three, a largely flat stage, which sets off from the famously cycle-friendly university city of Cambridge and finishes outside of Buckingham Palace on the Mall in London.

Instead, all the attention will be specifically on the sprinters - and Britain's Cavendish in particular.

Cavendish failed to feature on the Mall in the closing stages of the London 2012 Olympics road race - so this particular stage offers him a chance of redemption ahead of Le Tour's return to mainland Europe from stage four.

But, even with the move back across the Channel, the rest of the race will not be exclusively held in France.

Stage five begins in Ypres, Belgium, in a commemorative nod to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One.

And, just like in Sheffield, Le Tour can easily be lost early on here, as the riders nimbly take on nine cobbled sections, wary of punctures and skids.

On day six, there will be more World War One remembrance with a départ in Arras and finish in Reims - before the race heads into the Alps on stage 13.

Coming out of the Alps after just two days, most of the climbing action this year is actually set in the Pyrenees - with stage 16 heading off from Carcassonne, a beautiful fairytale-like walled town.

Then, just before the finish, there may be a late twist in the tale in a 54km time trial between Bergerac and Périgueux.

This is the only time trial of any kind on the 2014 circuit and offers the chasing pack one final chance of reeling in a leader ahead of the ceremonial final stage on the Champs Élysée in Paris.

It is a gruelling three weeks with no guarantees - so tune in to daily coverage on ITV4 and British Eurosport to find out if the champagne flows for Froome again.

STAGE BY STAGE Tour de France 2014

(1)	05-Jul	Leeds (UK) - Harrogate (UK)	191km
(2)	06-Jul	York (UK) - Sheffield (UK)	198km
(3)	07-Jul	Cambridge (UK) - London (UK)	159km
(4)	08-Jul	Le Touquet-Paris-Plage - Lille	164km
(5)	09-Jul	Ypres (BEL) - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut	156km
(6)	10-Jul	Arras - Reims	194km
(7)	11-Jul	Épernay - Nancy	233km
(8)	12-Jul	Tomblaine - Gérardmer La Mauselaine	161km
(9)	13-Jul	Gérardmer - Mulhouse	166km
(10)	14-Jul	Mulhouse - La Planche des Belles Filles	161km
(-)	15-Jul	Rest day
(11)	16-Jul	Besançon - Oyonnax	186km
(12)	17-Jul	Bourg-en-Bresse - Saint-Étienne	183km
(13)	18-Jul	Saint-Étienne - Chamrousse	200km
(14)	19-Jul	Grenoble - Risoul	177km
(15)	20-Jul	Tallard - Nîmes	222km
(-)	21-Jul	Rest day
(16)	22-Jul	Carcassonne - Bagnères-de-Luchon	237km
(17)	23-Jul	Saint Gaudens - Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet	125km
(18)	24-Jul	Pau - Hautacam	145km
(19)	25-Jul	Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour - Bergerac	208km
(20)	26-Jul	Bergerac - Périgueux (time trial)	54km
(21)	27-Jul	Évry - Champs Élysée, Paris	136km