Sheffield Tour de France diverted from Northern General Hospital

The second stage of the Tour de France will end in Sheffield

The route of the 2014 Tour de France has been diverted to avoid a Sheffield hospital, the city council has said.

The initial preferred route for the famous cycle race's visit to Yorkshire passed the entrance to Sheffield's Northern General Hospital.

The second stage route has now been finalised to go via Shirecliffe and Burngreave to the planned finish at Sheffield Arena on 6 July.

About 250,000 people are expected in the city on the day, said the council.

Sheffield City Council held discussions with event organisers Welcome to Yorkshire and the Amaury Sport Organisation to move the route.

The diversion is to remove any problems of access to the 1,100-bed hospital during the event.

The first two stages of the 2014 race are being held in Yorkshire, with the first stage from Leeds to Harrogate on Saturday 5 July.

After leaving York the second stage of the race is to enter Sheffield on the A628 via Langsett and continue through Bradfield, Worrall, Oughtibridge, Grenoside and Hillsborough before taking the new route.

The race was last in the UK in 2007 when it started in London.