THE Tour de France Grand Depart was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the last few years.

The wonderful scenes of well-wishers lining the route through Wharfedale as the world’s greatest cyclists fought their way up our hills and across our dales will stick in many people’s memories for more years to come.

Now some of the magic is about to be rekindled as the Tour de Yorkshire, a special event set up to capitalise on the success of last year’s race, will be coming through the Wharfedale area.

The race was announced some time ago but the details of the route have only just been finalised – and the riders will be passing through Ilkley, Menston, Otley, Pool and Arthington.

Yorkshire is already on the cycling map thanks to the Tour de France and images of the riders passing through our glorious countryside were beamed around the world.

That our area gets such a prominent role in the Tour de Yorkshire is testimony to how well we rose to the occasion last year.

Hopefully the Tour de Yorkshire will become a regular event, as the organisers hope, and for that to happen we all need to get behind it and give it our support.

We can help Yorkshire become one of the mainstays of the cycling world and a major fixture in the sport’s calendar. This should lavish more attention on our area, bring in more visitors and help boost our economy.

So let’s all get on our bikes and get behind the Tour de Yorkshire.