Tour of Britain organisers reveal why Yorkshire is not included in the route

Cyclists will ride from Penzance to Aberdeen in September, following a route that was planned for the 2020 race, and the organisers say they can take the event only to places which offer financial support.

When the route was planned for last year, few were calling for Yorkshire to be included because preparations were well under way for the Tour de Yorkshire, but it ended up being postponed in 2020 and 2021.

A Tour of Britain spokesman said: “This year’s Tour of Britain uses the route initially planned for the September 2020 race that hadn’t been scheduled to include any stages within Yorkshire.

“The overall route and stages had already been in the planning for approximately 18 months prior to the postponement of the Tour of Britain or Tour de Yorkshire in 2020.

“We hope to see the Tour de Yorkshire rejoin the UCI [Union Cycliste Internationale] calendar in 2022 and also to bring the men’s Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour to Yorkshire in future editions of the races and are already working on our overall race routes for 2022 and beyond.”

This year’s Tour of Britain will begin on September 5 and riders are due to cross the finish line on September 12.

The Tour de Yorkshire is due to return in 2022 and the organisers have secured the promise of an extra £600,000 in taxpayer funding to underwrite the costs of the event in case they fail to secure sufficient sponsorship.

North Yorkshire, Barnsley, Richmondshire, East Riding, Redcar & Cleveland and Craven councils have all agreed to potentially provide an extra £100,000 each.