Elite cyclists could be returning to North Yorkshire after local authority bosses agreed to host a stage of the Tour of Britain cycling race both this year and in 2027.
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has approved a plan to partner with British Cycling to bring the race to the county.
The proposal would see £350,000 of mayoral investment funding used to secure the event, with additional costs of up to £400,000 shared on a 50/50 basis with North Yorkshire Council to cover road closures and event management.
The Tour of Britain is one of the world’s leading cycling competitions, attracting elite international teams and broadcast to more than 100 countries.
Organisers say each stage can generate between £2m and £12m for the local economy.
Under the proposals, North Yorkshire would host a full stage of the men’s race in 2026, with a further stage planned for 2027.
While the final route is yet to be decided, organisers have indicated a preference for both the start and finish to take place within North Yorkshire rather than York, due to the logistical challenges of staging the event in a city environment.
The route is also expected to include a hill stage.
Leaders say hosting the event would support wider ambitions to promote active travel, boost tourism and attract inward investment to the region.
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith, welcomed the proposal at a combined authority meeting at County Hall in Northallerton today (FRIDAY).
He said: “Many people have positive memories of the Tour de France coming through in 2014
“The impact on the visitor economy over the period should be incredible.
“We need to make sure we have that real legacy after as well, so it’s not just a day event, it’s how we can make the most of it going forward.”
North Yorkshire Council leader, Councillor Carl Les, said he supported the idea in principle.
“North Yorkshire’s been hosting cycle races since the Grand Depart. People are still talking about the way that public took to it.
“Happy to support it but inevitably we do need to have discussions about the route because it’s got to be right for the cyclists but it’s also got to be right for the community that’s hosting it.”
The county hosted the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ, with the Tour de Yorkshire held from 2015 to 2019.
Well Mr mayor. If you checked your facts, you will find it was the tour de yorkshire and not the tour de france. It caused so many problems in the dales with businesses loosing money and travel disruption it was blocked from being repeated in the following years. So no thanks. Run it in york if you want it so badly. Don’t palm it off onto others giving them all of the problems.
The 2014 Tour de FRANCE started in Leeds and went through Harrogate and Masham, all of which were and are in Yorkshire.
I agree with Peter Mundell comment above.
Many local businesses most likely will loose trade and many local people do not want all that disruption of the closed roads.
Also if I wanted to hold an event and would like to close a road to do so, I would have to pay North Yorkshire Council a large some of money if they would allow this.
It seems with this event that North Yorkshire Council are going to SPEND £400,000 OF OUR TAX PAYERS MONEY instead of charging these people wanting to run this event and making the taxpayers some money to be spent on something useful to benefit the local people.
Also it says in the report (“Each stage can generate between £2m and £12m for the local economy)
Wow now that’s a very wild stab in the dark.
It jolly well was the Tour de France in 2014, so there!