Region gears up for Grand Départ

A STONE’S throw from the finish line of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées boulevard, Yorkshire underlined why it won the right to host the world’s biggest annual sporting event.

n the opulent setting of the British Embassy in Paris, the county unveiled the first two stages of the 101st Tour de France.

To a rousing soundtrack, some of the region’s greatest landmarks flashed on a screen before a packed press conference of international media.

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Images of the Yorkshire coast, York Minster, The Deep Aquarium, the Humber Bridge, Rievaulx Abbey and the dales and moors filled the room.

“Ours is a land of stunning landscapes and proud, passionate people,” said Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity. “We are a country within a county with an identity to rival other nations.”

The 18th century home of British ambassador Sir Peter Ricketts, complete with chandeliers, manicured gardens, gilded ceilings and a portrait of the Queen, became an outpost of Yorkshire for the day.

“It’s in a way right that we should launch the Tour de France 2014 Grand Depart from this house because just at the back of this is where the Tour de France finishes on the Champs-Élysées,” said Sir Peter. “We feel part of the Tour already. You can hear the buzz of the Tour from here.”

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Waiters carrying plates of Yorkshire curd tarts brought a taste of the county to Paris.

“The Tour is the top annual event out of anywhere in the world,” said Etienne Mayer, journalist at French magazine Le Sport Velo. “Despite all the doping affairs, every year there are more people next to the road.

“With Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins and the British success, it’s great they can surf on this wave.”

Council leaders and chief executives from across Yorkshire, ferried to Paris for the launch of the Grand Départ, basked in the moment.

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Anthony Alton, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said: “This is the most extraordinary sporting day for Harrogate. It’s putting Harrogate and Yorkshire very much on the map.”

“This is one of the most exciting and inspirational days of my life,” said Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds Council. He added that fixing Yorkshire potholes would be a “big challenge”.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire Council, 
said: “This is about the county council showing some leadership in a very difficult economic 
time for the county to make sure from 2014 onwards we get a boost.”

And even as heavy snow fell in Leeds last night, it was not hard for the imagination to wander forward to what will unravel on the county’s roads next summer.

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Of Mark Cavendish sprinting to victory in the town where his mother grew up, Harrogate.

Of Alberto Contador attacking on Holme Moss in the Pennines on what promises to be a decisive second stage of the 2014 Tour.

As the images of the great and good of Yorkshire cycling flickered on to the screen in the packed Leeds Town Hall, an audience was left on tenterhooks at the prospect at such a unique event coming to the Broad Acres.

There was Tommy Simpson and Brian Robinson from the 1960s, the former being one of Tour de France’s great martyrs, who died on Mont Ventoux chasing victory in the 1967 Tour.

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Mr Robinson lived to tell the tale. But did the Mirfield resident ever think he would live to see the Tour in his home county?

“Never,” was the only word he could manage yesterday, as a proud grin crept onto his face.

The Tour coming to Yorkshire is enough to make everyone in this great county proud, whether they ride a bike for a living, a hobby, or not at all.