IF parents and grandparents want visual evidence of health benefits of regular exercise, they should look no further than the Tour de Yorkshire which starts today in Doncaster.

Not only has cycling become integral to Yorkshire life, but a legacy of the Tour de France’s Grand Départ in 2014 was the creation of network of pioneering bike libraries to enable children in deprived areas to have access to bicycles.

And it is a public health dividend which will be enriched still further by the presence of world-leading riders like Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Yorkshire’s very own Lizzie Deignan.

Not only will they, and their teams, show the power of sport to change lives for the better, but they will be showcasing the very best of this county to a global audience in a chain reaction involving sport, tourism  and health policy.

The power of Tour de Yorkshire 2019 to change lives with chain reaction – The Yorkshire Post says