Vicky ParryYorkshire’s bid to host the 2016 Tour de France has received huge backing, with nearly 150,000 people supporting the bid to host the first two stages of the 2016 Tour de France cycle race. There is currently a team over in Paris working on the bid to stage a 114 miles (185km) a day route covering Leeds, York, Hull, Sheffield, Scarborough and the Yorkshire Dales.
The initial reports, surfaced on cyclingnews.com, suggested that the French President is also backing Yorkshire’s bid to host the start of the 2016 Tour de France.
UK’s Labour Party leader Ed Milliband, revealed that he had been engaged in positive talks with François Hollande in Paris following Bradley Wiggins’ victory in the 2012 race in Paris last weekend. Wiggins (Team Sky) became the first British rider to win the Tour in the race’s 109-year history.
Milliband, who is the MP for Doncaster North in the county of Yorkshire, said: “The president was very supportive. It would be a good thing for Yorkshire. It would be a great thing for my constituency.
Yorkshire is competing against Barcelona, Venice, Berlin and Scotland and sees itself as every bit the competitor with Gary Verity, chief executive of the regional tourism agency, Welcome to Yorkshire, highlighting that: “We have over 150,000 pledges of support from the public backing our bid – we have the landscape, the people, the passion and the resources behind us to host a world class Grand Depart. Adding that ”Yorkshire is the heartland of cycling in this country.”
“We have produced champions like Brian Robinson, Barry Hoban and Malcolm Elliott and we want to bring Le Tour to the county to pay tribute to those early pioneers of English cycling success and to inspire a new generation of champions to follow in their footsteps.”
Those behind the bid said the Yorkshire route would include hill sections to rival some of the Alpine stages.
