Riders of the Sky cycling team during training on Friday in Leeds, England. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

YORK, England—The Tour de France usually starts in the land of café noisette and croissants, but this year spectators will watch the world's most famous cycling race set off while enjoying a cup of tea and a fat rascal—a scone-like delicacy from the Northern English region of Yorkshire.

Reflecting a growing enthusiasm for cycling in the U.K., organizers are holding the first three stages in England before returning to France and hitting classic territory for the famously grueling mountain stages. (The bikes will get to France by boat.) This year also sees forays into Belgium and Spain.

First held in 1903, the Tour is starting abroad for the 20th time. The first visit to Britain, in 1974, wasn't a huge success: Designed to celebrate the U.K.'s membership of what became the European Union, border officials held the teams up and there were few spectators. The race didn't come back until 1994, to celebrate the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

Ventures abroad usually go to neighboring countries with a strong cycling culture, such as Belgium—home of Eddy Merckx, who won the Tour five times. Belgium has played host to the Tour several times, with starts in Brussels, Charleroi and, two years ago, Liège.

"From the beginning, the route had a very high symbolic value," said Christopher S. Thompson, a history professor at Ball State University and author of the 2006 book "The Tour de France: A Cultural History." Tracking France's border, the Tour had a cultural purpose—to show the value of French culture and French regions. "After World War II, they made a very specific point of 'Europeanizing' their itinerary," he said. The first start abroad was in Amsterdam in 1954.

The Tour also has been used to make a geopolitical point: In 1987, it opened with a time trial in West Berlin. It also comes at a price: Organizers have to pay Amaury Sports Organization, which runs the Tour de France, for the right to host. Calls and emails to Amaury seeking comment weren't returned.

London hosted the Grand Départ in 2007, and since then British cycling has been undergoing a renaissance. Bradley Wiggins, nicknamed "Le Gentleman" by the French, was the first ever British rider to win, in 2012. Soon after, he started the opening ceremony for the London Olympics, where British riders won numerous medals and tens of thousands turned out to watch the men's road race.

This year, Wiggins won't be in Team Sky's squad for the race, but will be part of England's team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Fellow Team Sky member Chris Froome, a Kenyan-born British racer, won last year's Tour, further stoking British enthusiasm for cycling.

But the U.K. leg of the Tour de France isn't just an excuse to show off the scenery. The race starts on Saturday with a 119-mile stage from Leeds to Harrogate. Instead of the usual time trial, riders face tricky climbs through the Yorkshire Dales National Park before a flat final 37 miles—ideal for sprinters.

It could be the perfect location for Mark Cavendish, a Brit with 25 stage wins under his belt, to finally wear the leaders' yellow jersey. Threats to his ambition include German sprinters Marcel Kittel and André Greipel.

The climbs, to the amusement of the people of Yorkshire, appear in French on the Tour's website and map. Buttertubs Pass—a 2.8-mile climb at 6.8% gradient—becomes the more chic-sounding Côte de Buttertubs.

The next day, riders go from York—a picturesque medieval city where cycling is heavily promoted and cars are banned from the city center—to Sheffield. "This is not your run-of-the-mill start to the Tour…it is set to be thrilling because the overall favorites will have to avoid being caught napping," said Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour de France's sports director.

After going to new destinations in Yorkshire, the route continues on to Cambridge and London, before crossing into Belgium to mark the centenary year of World War I. Stage 5 goes from Ypres, scene of the some of the conflict's bloodiest fighting, to Arenberg.

The cobblestones there—a notoriously painful surface to race on—likely won't help Froome, last year's winner. As he prepares to try and repeat his victory, large crowds will reflect the sport's growing popularity. The last time the Tour visited England, in 2007, two million people turned out over two days, organizers said.

"It's understandable there'd be greater excitement" this time, said Thompson, the history professor. "It's a function of the internationalization of cycling's appeal."