Tour de Yorkshire: 1 week to go
Final preparations are underway in South Yorkshire, with just just over a week to go until the Tour de Yorkshire arrives in our county
With just over a week until the Tour de Yorkshire comes through South Yorkshire, we're being promised the biggest and best race yet.
The three-day international cycle race gets underway in Bridlington a week today, with the final part of the race travelling through South Yorkshire.
The ‘brutal’ third stage of the race will finish in Fox Valley in Sheffield after passing through places like Penistone, Thurgoland and Stocksbridge next Sunday.
Gary Verity, from Welcome to Yorkshire, says South Yorkshire’s third stage of the tour is particularly tough:
“It’s the toughest one day of bike racing in Europe this year.
“There’ll be a more competitive women’s race, more teams, a tougher course, a stronger men’s field and a brutal stage three.
“It gives people an opportunity for social change, its fantastic; this will be another record breaking year for Yorkshire. We’ve had three years on the bounce where we’ve kept raising the bar and I’m sure this year will be phenomenal.”
South Yorkshire towns have been busy getting ready to welcome the race to the area.
Julie Grocutt is from Stocksbridge Town Council - she's hoping it'll bring a boost:
"I think it's a great honour for the town. We've got a long and proud history of being a steel town. We're now part of the Outdoor City for Sheffield - we have many great outdoor events going on in the town and really this is the icing on the cake for us.
"Hopefully when people see it on the TV they'll see that we've got a great high street, lots of shops, lots happening, we've got great sports facilities across a wide range of sporting activities and we've got some of the most beautiful scenery that you could see anywhere."
Yorkshire's Dame Sarah Storey is among the riders taking part and told Hallam that the event has really helped raise the county's profile:
“I think it’s put Yorkshire on the map and gives you a platform to showcase what you have to offer to the world. The whole route across the three days really showcases the very best of the coastline, the very best of cities and the very best of the climes as well.”
Two million people lined the route to watch last year’s race – boosting the region’s economy by nearly 60 million pounds.
Sarah Storey said that it's always great to get back to racing on home ground.
“It’s going to be amazing to have the crowds out. People get behind the race like no other place in the world, so it’s fantastic that we are going to have the opportunity to see all those flags and smiling faces and that really does push you along the route.
“When you get that opportunity to race in front of a home crowd and you know there’s going to be lots of people out, then it really is fantastic. You know it’s going to be deafening, really, really going to be exciting!”
There’s more information on the Tour de Yorkshire on the event’s website.