CYCLISTS will once again be converging on York this summer as the city’s mass cycle rally is reborn as part of the Tour de France legacy.

For nearly 70 years, Britain’s cycling community met on York’s Knavesmire every June for a weekend of all matters relating to pedal power - but two wet summers spelt the end for the rally, which has not been held since 2013.

Now a team of volunteers, starting with no funds at all, have spent more than a year planning for a new-style York Cycle Rally which will be held on June 20 and 21.

Organiser Paul Reid said: “It was losing direction. It was becoming more and more a show and it wasn’t a participation event but something you came and watched.

“Hopefully we are going back to more participation and more for actual cyclists. We are trying to get back to our grass roots.”

The reborn cycle rally will include grass track races, trade stands and several group rides of different lengths and ability, including one planned for the 30 per cent climb of Rosedale Chimney Bank on the North York Moors.