Ilkley Moor will host the Tour de Yorkshire’s maiden summit finish on Friday.
And it promises to be a thriller as the general classification riders will begin to show their hands.
Stage two kicks off in Barnsley at 2.20pm, with a total of 149km standing between the peloton and the finale on the Cote de Cow & Calf.
Covering a distance of 1.8km at an average gradient of 8.2 per cent, the climb features ramps well in excess of 10 per cent and a spike of more than 17 per cent towards the top.
The chances of Canyon Eisberg rouleur Harry Tanfield holding on to his leader’s jersey are slim.
Great Ayton’s stage one hero has an advantage of 19 seconds over the main group, which includes the likes of Olympic champion and 2017 Paris-Roubaix winner Greg van Avermaet.
Meanwhile, Tanfield is one point ahead of stage one runner-up Ali Slater, of JLT Condor, in the points classification.
Canyon Eisberg sports director Tim Elverson is not ruling out a bid to retain that jersey but insists he has other cards to play. He said:
“I laid a rough plan out for each day previous to the race. That was based on the stages and based on the ability of the lads.
“Thursday was Harry’s day. It was always going to suit him once he made the first berg because he is pretty decent at keeping the chain tight.
“The only thing the result on stage one does change is that we might have a little look to see if we can keep one of the multiple jerseys he has picked up.
“We have some plans for the other guys but we also want to keep control of our GC plans as well.
“So we will definitely have one eye on that and the final climb. But it is a pretty decent position for us to be in.”
Stage two features two intermediate sprints and two categorised climbs, with points on offer in the king of the mountains competition.
The first – the Cote de Blacker Hill – comes after 29km and covers 1.6km at an average gradient of 5.8 per cent.
There is a sprint in Swinton at 41.5km and another at Scholes after 102km before the Cote de Old Pool Bank.
This penultimate climb comes with 18km to go and covers 1km at a testing 10 per cent average gradient.
Then it is eyes down for the finale on the Cote de Cow & Calf, where you can expect huge crowds to be lining the road reminiscent of the biggest World Tour races.
Tanfield, whose heroics captured the imagination of the British cycling public on stage one, added:
“It might be tough to keep the lead! GVA (Greg van Avermaet) is going to be whacking it up that climb at the end.”
Join us on Facebook for live video build up to the start of the race, along with exclusive footage from inside the team car. We aim to begin the broadcast around 1.45pm.
