Cynics eat words as 2018 Tour returns in triumph
Event seals Yorkshire’s reputation as the home of competitive cycling in wake of 2014’s Grand Départ
WHEN THE spotlight fell on Yorkshire for the world’s biggest annual sporting event four years ago, many cynics claimed that its lasting legacy may well be minimal.
But the staging of the Grand Depart for the 101st edition of the Tour de France in Yorkshire back in 2014 has proved to be a master-stroke as the region has become the nation’s home to cycling, raising the sport’s profile and bringing in millions of pounds to the economy.
And as the region gears up to stage the biggest ever Tour de Yorkshire from today, its organisers could be forgiven for feeling just a little smug that the doubters have most definitely been proved wrong.
Sir Gary Verity, the chief executive of the race organisers, Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “Preparations for the race by communities around Yorkshire are as big, if not bigger, than they were for the Tour de France the first time it came to Yorkshire.
“The various things they have done to welcome the race is just phenomenal. If the weather forecast is as good as it promises to be, you will see the biggest crowds we have ever had.”
The Tour de Yorkshire will this year be staged across four days for the first time, bringing some of the world’s elite riders including Mark Cavendish and Olympic road champion Greg Van Avermaet to a far-reaching course taking in villages, towns and cities including Beverley, Doncaster, Leeds and Richmond. And this year’s race is being seen as a curtain-raiser to one of the biggest events in cycling when the World Championships are staged in Yorkshire next year.
The Tour de France’s race director, Christian Prudhomme, who is in Yorkshire for this weekend’s race, said: “When we first came back for the Tour de Yorkshire we thought it would be different to the Tour de France, but it was exactly the same, and it is growing and growing and growing. Massive crowds, steep climbs, outstanding landscape – Yorkshire has it all.”
Communities across Yorkshire are preparing to welcome the race. Free events at locations along the route kicked off last night when Leeds band The Dunwells and the West Yorkshire Rock Choir performed at an ‘Eve of Tour’ celebration in Millennium Square in Leeds. Stars of the cycling, such as 2017 champion Serge Pauwels, Cavendish and Van Avermaet appeared on stage along with Yorkshire cycling heroes Brian Robinson, Denise Burton-Cole and Barry Hoban.
In Thirsk, yarn bombers have decorated the town’s streets with colourful knitted creations to welcome riders, while imaginative decorations along the Bradford district section of the race will be a cow and calf artwork and a giant Yorkshire flag at Ilkley’s Cow and Calf rocks, and 7ft Hollywoodstyle letters to spell out towns and villages on the route.
FOR PROOF of Team Yorkshire at its very best, look no further than the county’s four-day cycling race which begins today.
The size and scope of the Tour de Yorkshire has increased markedly since the inaugural race was first held in 2015 in the wake of the most spectacular Grand Départ in Tour de France history.
Now expanded to four days, it regularly attracts many of the world’s top cyclists – Mark Cavendish is this year’s headline act – and includes a two day women’s race to champion the sport’s diversity.
However the event is made by the collective effort of citizens, communities and councils pulling together so cyclists receive a welcome like no other, and, just as crucially, getting behind the army of volunteers – and many members of the emergency services – whose professionalism will ensure that the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire is another sporting success story that showcases the best of this county to the watching world.