Tour de Yorkshire: £800,000 cycling boost for region

Last year's event is said to have brought about £100m to the local economy

An £800,000 investment in cycling facilities and promoting the Tour de Yorkshire has been announced.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said £500,000 would go to county cycling facilities, including new circuits.

British Cycling will oversee the investment and secure match funding from councils, partner organisations and cycling clubs.

Funding will run over two years from 2015 to 2017, a government spokesperson said.

The race will run in three stages from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 May - from Bridlington to Scarborough, from Selby to York, and from Wakefield to Leeds.

Welcome to Yorkshire will use £300,000 of the money to publicise the county overseas, ahead of the race.

Nick Clegg said the investment in Yorkshire's cycling facilities will help boost business

Sheffield Hallam MP Mr Clegg made the announcement during a visit to the city, which does not feature on the route of May's race.

"Even if you're not living on the actual route, it still has a knock-on effect on businesses and tourism in the whole county," he said.

David Bocking, from support service Sheffield Cycling Boost, said "any more money devoted to cycling" in the region was great news.

"It's great to promote the Tour de Yorkshire, but I would also like to see promotion that cycling is a realistic way of getting about," he said.

"Any money spent on that would pay for itself many times over."

British Cycling will oversee the investment in cycle facility improvements

The decision to hold an international cycle race in Yorkshire was made after the success of the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Yorkshire last year.

Yorkshire's economy is thought to have benefitted by about £100m when it hosted the race in July.

The location of the new facilities has yet to be confirmed.