Tour de Yorkshire route includes Leeds, Wakefield and region’s coastline

World class cycling will return to Leeds and take in the Yorkshire coast next summer, after details of the debut Tour de Yorkshire cycle race were revealed.

Leeds, York, Wakefield, Scarborough, Selby and Bridlington will each get a slice of the action as start or finish points of the three races during the May 1 to 3 spectacle expected to race through up to 600km of the county’s roads.

Today’s announcement by Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity comes months after Yorkshire gave the Tour de France its “grandest Grand Depart” in history as more than 3million spectators lined the July 6 and 7 stage routes.

The race’s first outing along the Yorkshire coast will come as welcome news to many, although cycling fans in South Yorkshire look to have missed out on the race, which is being organised by Welcome to Yorkshire, Tour de France owners Amaury Sport Organisation and regional local authorities. It will include a men’s stage race on each of the three days and a women’s race on May 2.

Last week it emerged that City of York Council had agreed to contribute £150,000 in running costs to the event and will seek external funding to pay for its “hosting fee”, while Scarborough Borough Council committed £135,000 which includes running costs and a hosting fee.

Details of local authority contributions are expected to gradually be released by each of those involved, although it is hoped that the vast majority of funding will come from the private sector.

Earlier this year Mr Verity said that the Tour de Yorkshire will not receive any direct Government funding.