French President backs Yorkshire bid
The momentum for Yorkshire to host the start of the 2016 Tour de France continues to build after French President François Hollande indicated his support.
Last Updated: 25/07/12 12:06pm
The momentum for Yorkshire to host the start of the 2016 Tour de France continues to build after French President François Hollande indicated his support.
The Yorkshire bid team were in Paris at the weekend as Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win cycling's greatest event.
They have already had over 150,000 pledges of support and www.telegraph.co.uk reports President Hollande offering his support during a meeting in Paris with Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is MP for Doncaster North.
Mr Miliband raised Bradley Wiggins' triumph in the Tour and the bid by Yorkshire to bring the bike race to the North of England with President Hollande.
"The president was 'very supportive'," Mr Miliband was quoted as saying afterwards by www.telegraph.co.uk, adding: "It would be a good thing for Yorkshire. It would be a great thing for my constituency. I am backing le bid."
Heritage
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, who is leading the bid to bring the Tour de France to the county was understandably delighted by the news, telling www.skysports.com: "We have strong cross-party political support within the county to make this happen and now we have the support of President François Hollande, which is great news for our bid.
"Yorkshire is seen by many as the spiritual heartland of cycling in the UK, we have the cycling heritage, we have the champions and we are race ready to host Le Tour. It would be an honour to bring the race back to England and host it in our great county and we are working hard to make that happen."
If you'd like to pledge your support for 'Back le Bid' please visit www.yorkshire.com/backlebid
