£10m Government Funding For Yorkshire Tdf Start
The Government is set to provide £10 million of the required £21 million costs of staging next year’s Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire, where the 101st edition of the race will run between Leeds, Harrogate, York and Sheffield next summer.
Covering the Yorkshire section on 5th and 6th July 2014, the peloton will ride through Cambridge before reaching London the following day.
Earlier this month commentating legend Phil Liggett took sportindustry.biz through the route of the Grand Depart. Check it out at Sport Industry TV.
The government funding was officially announced by sport minister Hugh Robertson, with the remainder of the purse coming from local authorities and other partners.
Robertson told media ‘The Tour de France is the biggest event in cycling and for this country to host the Grand Depart is a real honour.’
‘We want to help deliver a world class event that boosts all local economies where the race will pass through and encourages more people to get involved in cycling.’
It was also confirmed that Sir Rodney Walker, former chair of UK Sport and the Rugby Football League, has been appointed to head the organising committee for next year’s event in Yorkshire.
The new organising committee, called TDF 2014 Ltd, will have a board that includes representation from Yorkshire and Cambridge local authorities, as well as British Cycling, Transport for London and UK Sport.
Walker added: ‘I am honoured to have been asked to lead the board, and confident that I will be able to bring together the very best skills in Yorkshire and expertise from across the UK to deliver an excellent event we will all be proud of.’
Cycling’s most famous tour arrives in Britain for the fourth time in 2014, following back-to-back successes for Great Britain’s Team Sky who helped guide Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome to consecutive yellow jerseys in 2012 and 2013.
