Safety is key as police clear way for race

event. “The bikes and the cars that come with them travel at quite high speeds and we just want to make sure people are aware of their own safety and don’t come to any harm.

“The police motorcycle bikes and the escort team close the road down and then open it up as quickly as they can.

“It’s really hard work, they have to concentrate. It might sound easy to close a road down, but if you think how many small roads join a main road and how many people’s driveways join a road, it’s actually quite a difficult thing to do. The route often goes through narrow roads, winding routes and lots of potential dangers when you’ve got a fast moving race.”

And to help police work the logistics of the event, information technology specialists Dimension Data has provided a solution which makes the job a whole lot easier.

ACC Milsom said: “Technology is an important backup for the police. We can’t be everywhere all the time and we’ve begun using a system from Dimension Data which plots where the race is and where the peloton is and it also goes onto an app so that the public can use it. It allows us to anticipate and predict problems for when they are going to happen.”

Keep up to date with all the latest Tour de Yorkshire coverage on the Examiner’s website and for road closures visit www.westyorkshire.police. uk/tour-de-yorkshire