A CAMPAIGN has been launched to knit 3,000 miniature cycling shirts to be used as bunting to welcome the Tour de France.

Harrogate Borough Council is urging knitters of all abililties to create bright yellow, lime green, white and red polka dot jerseys to replicate the outfits worn by the race leaders.

The wool jerseys will be hung as bunting across Harrogate district, which the race will enter at Masham on July 5 and see riders passing through Knaresborough the following day.

Le Tour de Bunting campaign will be launched at the four-day Knitting & Stitching Show being held at the Harrogate International Centre from Thursday. A council spokesman said York University students had come up with the idea for the jerseys, which need 25gms of wool to create.

He said: “We liked the knitted bunting idea because it will get our local community participating and neatly makes the link with Yorkshire’s tradition of sheep farming and the wool trade.”

“We don’t mind who knits the bunting from home or abroad. We know our European counterparts really have fun in setting the scene for the Tour and we want it to be just as exciting in our district.”

For details about knitting patterns, visit harrogate.gov.uk/LeTourdeBunting