Tour de Yorkshire to be a four-day event
Key points about next year’s Tour de Yorkshire have been revealed by Sir Gary Verity during a speech at the Scarborough Cricket Festival dinner.
Sir Gary said the Tour will have an extra day added this year, making a total of four days, and that there will be more focus on women’s racing.
He said: “Yorkshire has record visitor numbers. We wanted to have an event to unite the county and nothing united the county like the Tour de France.
“It will come back again. And following the Tour de Yorkshire success, in September we will announce the areas, with the full route revealed in December. It will be four days this year, two hilly routes and two flats.”
Sir Gary said the response from the public had been “astonishing” and it had made it “like no other cycle race”.
He added: “I want to increase the focus on women’s races to make it more in line with the men’s event.”
The cricket festival drew thousands of fans to Scarborough, which was blessed with sunny weather for the everpopular event.
The race organisers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) and Welcome to Yorkshire have been holding meetings with local authorities who have expressed an interest in holding a start or finish of the race. They are also talking to companies in Yorkshire, nationally and internationally about sponsorship opportunities. Sir Gary said: “With our partners ASO and the local authorities we have created a fantastic event which we are confident will grow year on year to become one of the biggest sporting events in the world.”