ORGANISERS of the Tour de Yorkshire have been on a mini tour of the county ahead of the announcement of the full route.

Sir Gary Verity DL, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme visited various stops along the route, and will reveal all the details of the tour on Friday, December 7.

First stop was Armley, near Leeds, where they dropped in to see volunteers at the New Wortley Bike Library. The scheme, supported by the Yorkshire Bank, is one of 57 libraries now open as a legacy of Yorkshire hosting the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014. They operate like regular libraries, loaning bikes for free with the aim of giving every child in the county the opportunity to ride a bike regardless of financial circumstances.

Sir Verity and Mr Prudhomme then headed to Brackenfield School in Harrogate where they were treated to a performance of Christmas in Yorkshire by 45 pupils. The race will come right past the school’s gates as the riders take on the now-familiar Harrogate Circuit which will also be used extensively in the Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships next September.

The Tour de Yorkshire will be the last chance before the Championships to ride the circuit under race conditions.

The final stop on the tour was at RHS Harlow Carr, where Sir Gary and Christian met local dignitaries, including North Yorkshire’s Lord Lieutenant Jo Roper, and switched on the Christmas lights at the much-loved horticultural attraction.

Sir Verity said: "It’s been great meeting people in two of the host towns of the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire and building excitement ahead of the full route announcement.

"We get so much support from our local communities during the race that we wanted to come and thank them in person.

"It was fantastic to see so many young people in Armley engaging with cycling, and Christmas performance was magical and the light switch on the icing on the Christmas cake.”