Bid to host Tour de France confirmed

A FORMAL bid has been launched to bring the world’s biggest sporting event to Yorkshire, the head of the region’s tourism body has revealed.

Speaking in the House of Commons at a launch event for the Yorkshire Post’s new quarterly magazine, Yorkshire Vision, Gary Verity said the region will go head-to-head with Barcelona, Venice, Berlin and Scotland to host part of the Tour de France in 2016.

A Back the Bid campaign is now being launched by Welcome to Yorkshire ahead of a visit by the Tour’s organisers to the region in May.

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“We have formally submitted our bid over the weekend to bring the Tour de France to Yorkshire,” Mr Verity told the audience of politicians and business leaders at Westminster.

“It is the world’s biggest sporting event – 88 million people watch it on television, 5,000 people every night stay wherever the Tour goes, and that’s not including the spectators.

“Now we have formed an audacious bid to bring it to Yorkshire.

“We’re in competition with the Scots, ironically, who by then may or may not be an independent country by the time the Tour comes here – but they’re getting English taxpayers’ money to bring the tour to Scotland. We’re in competition with Barcelona, with Venice, with Berlin, but we believe Yorkshire has more to offer than all of those places and we believe we’re in with a serious chance.”

Mr Verity was one of several guest speakers at the Yorkshire Vision launch event on Monday night, including the Communities Secretary, former Bradford Council leader Eric Pickles.