Cycling fans let down as TV footage fails at Tour de Yorkshire race – Telegraph.co.uk

Saturday’s women’s race, which was won by Kirsten Wild  (Hitec-Products) ahead of Briton Lucy Garner (Wiggle-High5), claimed  £15000, the most lucrative prize pot in women’s cycling history. And  the race was billed as a landmark in terms of equal opportunity with  the women racing the same course as the men from Otley to Doncaster. 

Live television coverage, a rarity in women’s cycling, was a big part  of the equation, and Verity was naturally bitterly disappointed,  making his frustration clear in a series of tweets through the day.

“I’d like to take the time to answer that if that’s OK,” he said when  asked whether he had been able to enjoy any aspect of the day. “It’s  been a bit of a curate’s egg. I’ve enjoyed the crowds and what the  team has done in terms of women’s cycling.

“We’ll beat ourselves a bit. But fundamentally we have delivered two  great bike races today delivered by record crowds. And we will  continue. The stuff that happened today in terms of women’s cycling is  a fact of history. It can never be turned back. We want to do even  more next year.”

Verity said the plane had now been fixed and was confident there would  be no repeat of the problem tomorrow on the final day of the men’s  race.

Wild won a bunch sprint to take victory at the Asda Women’s Tour de  Yorkshire after a three-woman break including local favourite Lizzie  Armitstead (British Cycling) was caught with two kilometres to go.  Armitstead nevertheless said she had “goose pimples” after starting  the race in her home town of Otley.