Council leader's pledge to bring more major events to region after Tour de Yorkshire disappointment

It was announced that the Tour de Yorkshire will not take place in 2022 after Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO, the French company which put on the event along with the Tour de France, were unable to reach agreement on how the event would be funded.

It follows councils along the intended route being asked to put up a further £100,000 on top of their original £100,000 investment for staging part of the race. The extra money was intended to be used to cover any potential shortfall in sponsorship after ASO said they would not be willing to shoulder any losses from the event.

While six councils - North Yorkshire, Barnsley, Richmondshire, East Riding, Redcar & Cleveland and Craven - had agreed to provide the extra money if required, decisions on handing over the extra support had yet to materialise from Leeds, Calderdale and Kirklees.

Councillor Tim Swift, Leader of Calderdale Council said: “With regret Welcome to Yorkshire and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) have reached a mutual agreement that it will not be feasible to hold the Tour de Yorkshire in 2022.

“I would like to thank everyone who has been working so hard behind the scenes to try to bring back the race next year. We’re still living in uncertain times through the pandemic which makes the organisation of large-scale sporting events very challenging.

“I know this will be very disappointing news for our communities across Calderdale, who have provided such strong support for the race.

“We will continue to work with Welcome to Yorkshire and other local authorities across the region to explore future cycling and other sporting events in the future, which are so important for our tourism sector as part of the recovery.”

Halifax will miss out on hosting the Tour de Yorkshire in 2022 as organisers have cancelled next year’s event due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following lengthy discussions between race organisers, Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) over many months, they decided the popular cycling race will not be going ahead in 2022.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with escalating financial challenges and uncertainties, would mean that the event would be unviable in 2022, organisers said. Welcome to

Yorkshire chief executive James Mason said: “This has been an intense period of back and forth discussions about the 2022 Tour de Yorkshire over many months.

“We had every intention for the race to go ahead but unfortunately some of the circumstances were out of our control and sometimes you have to make big calls for the right reasons.”

The annual Tour de Yorkshire, which took place each year between 2015 and 2019, followed the success of the 2014 Tour de France’s Grand Départ in the county.

Last year, planning for the 2020 race was in the final stages, with all the host towns and cities having detailed plans in place.

However, due to the pandemic, the race was postponed in late March 2020.

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