Tour de France: Leeds celebrates 10 years since hosting Grand Depart of world's biggest cycle race

The stunning selection of photographs recalls just some of the once-in-a-lifetime memories created when Leeds was the setting for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France a decade ago.

And people in Leeds are being asked to add their own photos and memories of the occasion to an online archive in the run-up to the official anniversary in July.

The gallery is being displayed on the Leodis website, run by Leeds Libraries, and includes unforgettable images such as the iconic Black Prince statue on City Square dressed in a huge knitted yellow jersey.

The jersey was the result of weeks of hard work by older people attending Holbeck Elderly Aid and Holt Park Active as a tribute to the famous yellow jersey worn by TdF winners for more than a century.

Around 30 balls of yellow wool were used for the statue’s two metre-long jersey, which was lifted into place before being carefully stitched on.

Other images featured include some of the huge crowds of eager spectators, who gathered on Briggate and The Headrow to catch a glimpse of the riders, as they set off outside Leeds Art Gallery.

An estimated 230,000 spectators packed into Leeds city centre on July 5, 2014, to watch what is regarded as one of the most successful Grand Departs in the long history of the event.

People across the city are now being encouraged to cast their minds back and add their own memories of the 2014 TdF to the Leodis website or submit photographs to [email protected] to help build a permanent archive of the day.

Councillor Mary Harland said: “It’s fantastic to relive some of those moments a decade on, and it will be wonderful if we can build a photographic archive of this momentous event which captures what it meant to the city and which we can share with future generations.”

Leeds will also mark the anniversary by hosting Legacy Ride, a mass participation cycling event taking place on Sunday, July 7.