THE Tour de Yorkshire’s second day of racing next year will start in Barnsley town centre and will follow a route which takes in a large part of the borough.
Mayor of Barnsley Coun Jeff Ennis said he hoped Barnsley people will turn out in their thousands to see the event on Friday May 4.
“I’m really looking forward to it myself,” he said. “It’s two weeks before the end of my year of office as Mayor. It’s going to be an extremely exciting spectacle, and it’s also Star Wars day, so we’re saying to people ‘May the 4th be with you’ as it’s going to coincide with a special exhibition at Experience Barnsley.
“I’m sure Barnsley people will get behind it, especially if the weather is kind.”
The second stage, starting in Barnsley, will be known as ‘Yorkshire Heritage’.
It starts at the town hall with riders heading out towards Penistone via Barugh Green, Cawthorne and Silkstone.
From Penistone the peloton will ride through Oxspring, Thurgoland and Hood Green into Worsbrough.
It leaves Worsbrough skirting Wombwell Woods to Hoyland, where the first mountains classification points are up for grabs at the ‘Cote de Blacker Hill’.
The route continues through Hoyland and Elsecar and on to Wentworth where it turns east and heads to, Hooton Roberts, Conisbrough and Mexborough where it turns north and skirts the borough again east of Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe before heading on through Hemsworth, Pontefract, Castleford, Harewood, Otley, and finishing in Ilkley - 149km in total.
The council is inviting local businesses on the route to attend one of four workshops delivered in partnership with race organisers Welcome to Yorkshire to find out how they can get involved. The first one will be at the Metrodome on January 18 at 5pm.
Coun Sir Steve Houghton, leader of the Barnsley Council, said: “It’s a great honour to be selected as a start location for the Tour de Yorkshire and we’re sure that once again the people of Barnsley will get behind the riders and give them a great welcome.
“There will be plenty of ways for residents, schools and businesses to get involved and this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase all that Barnsley has to offer.”
Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis said he was delighted that Barnsley has been chosen as one of the eight host towns for the Tour de Yorkshire.
“This is a huge opportunity to showcase our town to a global audience,” he said.
“This year’s race was watched by almost 10m people in 180 countries and it is fantastic that next May the eyes of the world will be on Barnsley as we host the second stage of this iconic race.
“The 2017 Tour de Yorkshire generated £64m for our region as a whole. Being a host town will undoubtedly give an enormous boost to our local economy and show the world that Barnsley is a great place to do business.
“The spirit of celebration and achievement generated by the Tour de Yorkshire is tremendous. Next year’s race will be the biggest yet and will put Yorkshire firmly on the map as the cycling capital of Europe.”
The council has set up a dedicated website for all the latest information on the tour here
