First Tour De Yorkshire Details Revealed

The start and end points for the three stages of the brand new Tour de Yorkshire have been announced today (Mon 22 Dec). The race which will take place over the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend (1st - 3rd May 2015) has been created after the huge success of Yorkshire hosting the Grand Départ of the Tour de France this summer. Organisers say the three day race will visit places that were not able to be included last time round, although the initial list of departure and destination points includes Leeds and York which were 2014 hosts. The event is being jointly organised by Welcome To Yorkshire and Tour de France organisers ASO, Director of the TdF Christian Prudhomme, said: "I am delighted we are returning to Yorkshire where we saw the grandest ever Grand Départ for the Tour de France. It is clear the people of Yorkshire are passionate about cycling and we can’t wait to bring them this new race." More than 3 million people turned out to see the Tour de France in Yorkshire and the economic impact has been put at well over £100million. Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "This is another huge milestone for Yorkshire as we position the county as the cycling heartland of Europe. This is the first ever Tour de Yorkshire, I am confident it will become a huge annual event and something that will raise Yorkshire’s profile year on year." Councillor Stephen Parnaby OBE, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: "The East Riding is an area with a great passion for cycling, a passion that can be summed up by the on-going success of the East Yorkshire Classic Cycling Weekend, which sees some of the country’s top cyclists ride through Beverley, and the mass participation of the recent Sky Ride Local scheme. Hosting a major sporting event will have untold benefits for the whole county in terms of tourism and boosting the local economy and the council will make every effort to capitalise on this." British Cycling are supporting the new race and their President, Bob Howden, said: "This new annual race partnering Welcome to Yorkshire and A.S.O. with British Cycling will help to maintain the legacy progress gained so far, helping us to achieve our collective goals of inspiring more people to get on their bikes and get active. Events of this calibre show to the world that Britain has what it takes to be the par excellence deliverer of iconic world class showpieces."