Heavy storms in Yorkshire have washed out a key bridge on the route of the men’s road race just a few weeks before cycling’s world championships are due to start, but the North Yorkshire County Council says it will put a temporary bridge in place by the end of August.
Grinton Moor Bridge, a stone structure in the Yorkshire Dales, also provided a picturesque point for the peloton when the 2014 Tour de France opened in England. The River Swale overran the bridge in heavy rain in late July.
The bridge sits just before one of the climbs that will separate well-rounded cyclists from the pure sprinters in the grueling 285-kilometer (177-mile) race Sept. 29. The world championship race often takes more than six hours.
Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde is the defending world champion, edging out Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin at the finish line to take his first title at age 38.
It's @alejanvalverde 🇪🇸!
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 30, 2018
Alejandro is our 2018 UCI Road World Champion 🌈
WHAT A FINISH!#InnsbruckTirol2018 pic.twitter.com/35RgxBH5tI
The rolling countryside of the Yorkshire Dales featured heavily in the television series All Creatures Great and Small, based on the memoirs of a veterinarian who worked in the area.
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