Tour de France In Yorkshire- A Year To Go

By Óné Chappy 
 

 
Exactly one year from today (July 5), an estimated three million people in Yorkshire will attend the first stage of the world’s largest cycling race.

In twelve month's time, the Tour De France will come to Yorkshire.
 
To mark the occasion, a hundred school children attended an event on the Headrow in Leeds which highlighted cycling in the county.

The children gathered at the heart of the city and got on their bikes for a photograph opportunity and to celebrate Yorkshire's success in winning the bid to host the start of the race next year.

Chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire Gary Verity said: "One of the reasons we brought Tour De France to Yorkshire is to inspire a lot of young people to get on their bikes and fall in love with cycling as much as we do".

This will be the first time Le Tour will visit the north of England having previously only visited the south coast of the country and London.

Eighty-two year old Brian Robinson from Mirfield, the first British rider to win a stage of the race in 1958 launched the official countdown.

Amongst the VIP guests of the launch was Yorkshire's very own current professional cyclist Dean Downing. 

Mr Verity said: "It is the biggest event that's ever happened in Yorkshire and it's probably the biggest event that will ever happen in Yorkshire. It doesn't get any bigger than this for us."

He also said that the event is important to both the region and the people of Yorkshire and will result in many benefits.

"It will be worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the economy and there will be lots of people around the world who couldn't point on a map today and tell you where Yorkshire is. Come July next year and they will know where we are", he said.

Excitement from both the young and old has been building up within the region since the announcement that the largest ever event to hit the county would land in July 2014 last December. 
 
The 2014 start of the race, or the Grand Départ will take place in Leeds on July 5. 

Riders will pass by Harewood and Leyburn before cycling through Ripon and continuing onto Harrogate, where the first yellow jersey of the 2014 event will be won at the end of the stage.

For photographs of the event, click below.