Talks open on Tour de Yorkshire’s long-term future as hopes fade for 2020 race

James Mason, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said discussions are under way with co-organisers Amaury Sport Organisation about future years with their current deal to stage the event ending this year.

This year’s event had been due to start on April 30 and was postponed last month in the hope a new date could be found later this year but Mr Mason admitted in an interview with The Yorkshire Post that is looking increasingly unlikely.

The Tour de Yorkshire has been running since 2015 after being established in the wake of Yorkshire hosting the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014 and is estimated to be worth £60m a year to the local economy.

But prior to coronavirus resulting in the postponement of this year’s race with the hope of finding an alternative date later in the year, there had been question marks raised about the event’s long-term future and more widely Yorkshire’s ongoing connection with cycling.

There was considerable unhappiness from some quarters at the organisation of the rain-hit UCI Road World Cycling Championships in Harrogate in September and in particular the damage caused to the 200-acre Stray which was used as a fan zone for the event.

Last year, a £300,000 sponsorship deal for the Tour de Yorkshire from Yorkshire Bank came to an end as a result of the company’s merger with Virgin Money which is seeing the former’s branches disappear from the high street.

This year’s event – the sixth edition of the race – was due to start in Beverley on April 3 and finish in Leeds on May 3.

Mr Mason said the postponement of this year’s race could revitalise support for the event. “We are in the last year of the contract and have opened up negotiations for a long-term extension.

“In terms of this year’s event, we would like to find a date in the 2020 calendar but we would be fighting for attention with a number of other events that have been cancelled.

“The reality is if it is next year and it becomes the 2021 race we should take the positives from that.

“Maybe having an enforced year out might lead to a new-found appreciation for the race.

“What is to say it couldn’t be a real celebration of Yorkshire tourism rebounding?

“For anybody who was against the race or doesn’t understand its importance, there is an opportunity to see this is a huge celebration of everything that is good about our county.

“This gap gives us the opportunity for people to think this is something we want for the next two, three, four or five years or further.”

According to statistics from Welcome to Yorkshire, the 2019 race was watched by almost two million spectators and viewed on television by 28 million people in 190 countries.

Its high-profile sponsors include Asda, Leeds Bradford Airport and Sky Betting & Gaming.

The first stage of this year’s men’s race was due to go from Beverley to Redcar, with the second stage covering Skipton to Redcar.

The third stage was to be between Barnsley and Huddersfield, with the fourth going from Halifax to Leeds. The women’s race was due to cover the second and third stages – Skipton to Redcar and Barnsley to Huddersfield.

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