Cycling: Tour de Yorkshire gives Mark Cavendish chance for special family day MARK Cavendish will have the chance to take the 2014 Tour de France leader's yellow jersey in the town where his mother lives after it was announced the first stage of the race will be from Leeds to Harrogate. Cavendish, who has 23 stage wins to his name already, would be one of those with an excellent chance of victory after a straightforward route was announced through the rolling Yorkshire Dales and a long, flat finish into Harrogate, home of his mother. The second stage will be more difficult, starting in York and going west to Keighley before heading south via Haworth - famous as the home of the Bronte sisters - and Huddersfield to finish in Sheffield. The 2014 Tour will also aim to recreate the excitement of last year's London Olympics by having a third stage from Cambridge to the city centre, finishing in the Mall, organisers announced yesterday. The Mall in central London was the finishing line for the road races at the London 2012 Games and the Tour riders will end the British stages there, having done a circuit of the Olympic Park in Stratford. The first stage in Yorkshire will start in Leeds on 5 July and see the riders go through Ilkley and Skipton, and then through the heart of the Dales via Kettlewell and Hawes to Leyburn in North Yorkshire before turning south through Ripon to the stage finish in Harrogate, where Cavendish, pictured, will likely be favourite to win a sprint. The second stage will begin in York and take in the towns of Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Elland, Huddersfield and Holmfirth with a finish in the city of Sheffield. It will be the second time Britain has hosted the Grand Depart and the fourth visit in all following a single stage in Plymouth in 1974 and two across the south of England 20 years later. Yorkshire won the bid to stage the Grand Depart in December, beating off rivals including Edinburgh and Florence, in Italy. The first stage will be 118 miles (190km) long with the second stage both longer, at 124 miles (200km), and more challenging in terms of hills. Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France director, said: "When we visited Yorkshire, it really captured our imagination and it has stayed long in our hearts. Since the resounding success of the Grand Depart in London in 2007, we were very keen to return to the UK. Sir Bradley Wiggins is the current Tour de France champion and Prudhomme said his success played a part in the decision to come to the UK. He said: "Bradley Wiggins" historical victory last July and the enormous crowds that followed the cycling events in the streets of London during the Olympic Games encouraged us to go back earlier than we had initially planned. Yorkshire is a region of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking landscapes whose terrains offer both sprinters and attackers the opportunity to express themselves. The second stage will also see riders having to climb the formidable Holme Moss on the final section. The third stage will see the race go past the Olympic Park, along the banks of the Thames and past Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben, and then Westminster Abbey to finish on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. Prudhomme added: "The Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2007 in London, the first ever organised in the United Kingdom, will remain unforgettable. We are very glad to return, seven years after, to this magnificent city. Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: "The routes of the Grand Depart will showcase some of Yorkshire's iconic cycling climbs and the county's stunning land and cityscapes. The peloton will be technically tested as they tackle some challenging terrain in what are sure to be two exhilarating days of racing in the county. London mayor Boris Johnson said: "It has been the most incredible epoch in the history of cycling that any of us can remember; and I am absolutely delighted that the world's greatest cycling race is coming to the capital. People will see London framed by shooting velocipedes for what will be a fantastic spectacle of sport. I am going to be in the crowd and I hope thousands more will too.