Yorkshire 2019 - White Rose county in spotlight as world’s best bid for rainbow jerseys

The White Rose county hosts the UCI Road World Championships, one of the largest free-to-watch spectacles in global sport.

Nine days of racing, 160 towns and villages touched, 12 races, and an anticipated roadside audience of three million people will once again underline the Broad Acres status as the home of cycling.

It was not always like this, far from it. At the start of the decade Yorkshire and cycling were barely mentioned in the same sentence until the Tour de France came here in 2014 and perceptions were changed for ever.

The legacy of that famous weekend helped bring the UCI world championships to town, the annual races to determine the fastest men and women on two wheels. Where five years ago yellow bunting fluttered by the roadside, now it is the rainbow colours denoting world champions.

For proud Yorkshireman and new Sports Minister Nigel Adams, it is a fitting conclusion to a momentous decade of sport that also saw England host the London 2012 Olympics and the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

“It is awesome to have a huge world class event like the UCIs in Yorkshire,” said Mr Adams, the Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty.

“Yorkshire is world renowned as capable of hosting fantastic events like this.

“The excitement is building. We are expecting three million people to line the routes and it will go through 160 towns and villages. It’s a real showcase and it makes you feel proud of your county.

“The Tour de France really put us on the map. It was a daring coup to host the Grand Depart that took everybody by surprise.

“Yorkshire people turned up in their masses to support that race.

“That, and this, are examples of what Yorkshire and the UK can do in terms of hosting the big events.”

The cycling extravaganza begins today with 26 races forming part of the International Para-Cycling event.

The UCI Road World Championships then officially begin tomorrow with the first-ever mixed team time-trial, which sees men and women racing against each other for their respective nations.

Junior and Under-23 time-trials take place from Monday through to Wednesday, before the road races take over on Thursday, culminating in the blue riband elite women’s and elite men’s road races next weekend.

Harrogate is the main hub of the championships but the races start all over the county, from Doncaster in the south to Ripon in the north, Beverley in the east to Bradford in the west.

Each race will end on a circuit around Harrogate, with a finish line on the Stray, where a week-long festival with fan zones, children’s activities and live music will be staged.

Some of the biggest names in world cycling are racing over the coming days, from Yorkshire’s own Lizzie Deignan to extravagant three-time world champion Peter Sagan; from the indefatigable Marianne Vos to the wunderkind of men’s cycling, Mathieu van der Poel.

But this celebration of cycling is not just about the sport itself, it is about legacy.

When British Cycling, Welcome to Yorkshire, UK Sport and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), bid for the annual event to come to Britain for the first time since 1982, they did so with £15m earmarked for cycling projects.

“Legacy is hugely important to us,” continued Mr Adams.

“Fifteen million of the £26m investment has been put aside for legacy. We want to get more people active. Some of that money is going into care homes through software and bikes for residents to use.

“The Doncaster Cycle Track (which opened last month) is for people of all ages and abilities.

“You only have to see how cycling is taking off and this is a really important championships for a number of reasons.”

Cycling previews: Page 7

Sir Bradley Wiggins: Page 10