1.5m people watch first-ever Tour de Yorkshire
THE region should be “immensely proud” of the first staging of the Tour de Yorkshire said Gary Verity after nearly 1.5m watched the three-day race.
Welcome to Yorkshire’s chief executive, who was considered the driving force behind the Tour de France’s Grand Depart coming to Yorkshire last year, has been convinced the county would support a major cycling event. Pre-race forecasts suggested it would be worth £30m-£40m to the region.
The first Tour de Yorkshire attracted major names from the cycling world, which helped attract 1.45m to the often-rainy roadsides over the bank holiday weekend. The race – won by Team Sky’s Lars-Petter Nordhaug – was televised in 150 countries.
“Once again we’ve seen staggering crowds provide a rousing welcome for these incredible riders,” said Mr Verity. “I salute each of the 144 riders in the men’s race and 98 in the women’s, and the 6,000 who took on the sportive. We thank the people of Yorkshire and the riders, the crowds, the Tour Makers, the ASO and our team at Welcome to Yorkshire should be immensely proud of the weekend’s achievements.”
Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, added: “It was an emotional return to Yorkshire, who did of course put on the grandest of all the grand Départs last year. This was again a special moment, an historic three days and a great advert for cycling and the passio and the heart that Yorkshire has for the sport.”
The Tour de Yorkshire will return in May 2016 on a new route with new start and finish towns. This year’s three stages were Bridlington-Scarborough, Selby-York and Wakefield-Leeds.
