PLANS were announced today for one of the biggest arts extravaganzas Yorkshire has ever seen.

The Yorkshire Festival 2014 will run in tandem with the White Rose county’s hosting of the opening two stages of this year’s Tour de France cycle race.

It will get under way on March 27, exactly 100 days before the Tour’s Grand Depart is held on July 5.

Yorkshire Water’s parent company, Kelda Group, was today confirmed as one of the arts event’s main supporters.

To mark the occasion, Yorkshire Water took the wraps off a giant banner at its Lower Laithe reservoir, near Haworth.

Details of the festival’s programme will be announced at end of this month.

The event’s executive producer, Henrietta Duckworth, said: “As one of the region’s biggest environmental investors, employers and landowners, Yorkshire Water has recognised what a fantastic opportunity the festival is for our region.

“They are exploring how local communities and arts organisations can engage with their employees and utilise their land and reservoir sites.

“With this support, we have been able to create an ambitious festival programme featuring world-class artists built around a core of participatory opportunities, across all art-forms, taking place throughout the county for audiences from Yorkshire and beyond.”

The festival is also being supported to the tune of £1m by Arts Council England.

SADDLE up for the cultural ride of a lifetime – that was the message today as plans were announced for one of the biggest arts extravaganzas Leeds has ever seen.

The Yorkshire Festival 2014 will run in tandem with the White Rose county’s hosting of the opening two stages of this year’s Tour de France cycle race.

It will get under way on March 27, exactly 100 days before the Tour’s Grand Depart is held in Leeds on July 5.

Yorkshire Water’s parent company, Kelda Group, was today (January 13) confirmed as one of the arts event’s main supporters.

And to mark the occasion, Yorkshire Water took the wraps off a giant banny at its Lower Laithe reservoir near Haworth.

Exact details of the festival’s programme are being kept under wraps until the end of this month.

But the event’s executive producer, Henrietta Duckworth, has told arts lovers in Leeds and the rest of the county that they will not be disappointed by what is in store.

She said: “As one of the region’s biggest environmental investors, employers and landowners, Yorkshire Water has recognised what a fantastic opportunity the festival is for our region.

“They are exploring how local communities and arts organisations can engage with their employees and utilise their land and reservoir sites.

“With this support, we have been able to create an ambitious festival programme featuring world-class artists built around a core of participatory opportunities, across all art-forms, taking place throughout the county for audiences from Yorkshire and beyond.”

YORKSHIRE has got a taste of the Tour de France as racers sped past Harewood House which is part of the race route.

Cyclists including former Tour winner Oscar Pereiro were at the famous stately home yesterday for the filming of a promotional video.

It is being produced for the Dare 2b Festival of Cycling which is being held at the 18th century building in July to coincide with the race passing through the grounds.

top gear: Local cycling enthusists ride past harewood House (SR1002/343e) 
+Picture: Steve Riding

Tour de France fans are at risk of missing the race’s Yorkshire debut as road closures during the event could leave remote sections of the route all but inaccessible, it is feared.

North Yorkshire County Council stated yesterday that road closures in North Yorkshire will see major routes all over the region shut down for at least eight hours when the iconic cycle race passes through the county on July 5 and 6.

The authority has urged those in the area to “avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary” during the event, which could mean fans planning to visit some of the more picturesque areas of the stages missing out.

Tour planners TdFHUB2014Ltd are warning that travel between locations on each stage will be limited, so spectators should plan ahead.

Coun John Blackie (Independent, Hawes and High Abbotside) of Richmondshire District Council, lets out cottages in the Yorkshire Dales and feels others may not have been aware of the impact of closures and the need for visitors to arrive early.

“There will be a deal of consternation among operators as if you don’t come last thing on Friday night you won’t be able to come to Tour stages,” he said. “Maybe we should have been rather better prepared earlier.”

Precise timings for closures are yet to be given, as the council say they will be dictated by “variable factors” such as race timings and spectator arrival times.

The lengthy closures have been organised to allow preparation of the race route, access for more than 150 sponsors’ vehicles, for the race itself and the removal of race infrastructure and movement of spectators. They have been organised by emergency services, the NHS, local councils and Tour bodies.

A TdFHUB2014Ltd spokesman said: “Spectators should plan well ahead and think about where they would like to watch and get there early. Movement may be limited on the day.”

He said details of “spectator hubs” are soon to be released. Visit www.northyorks.gov.uk or www.letouryorkshire.com.

Tour de France fans are at risk of missing the race’s Yorkshire debut as road closures could leave popular sections of the course in the remotest parts of the region all but inaccessible during the event, it is feared.

The announcement that the closure of roads in North Yorkshire will see major routes all over the region closed down for at least eight hours at a time when the iconic cycle race passes through the county on July 5 and 6 was made by North Yorkshire County Council yesterday.

The authority has urged those in the area to “avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary” during the Tour weekend, which could mean fans planning to visit some of the more picturesque and remote areas of the stages missing out.

Precise timings for closures are yet to be given, as the council says they will be dictated by “variable factors” such as race timings and spectator arrival times.

The announcement by the council, which will host over half of both Tour stages on its roads, is the first of a number of similar regional road closure statements to be issued over the coming weeks.

Tour planners TdFHUB2014Ltd are warning spectators that travel between locations on each stage will be limited, so spectators should plan ahead.

The leader of Richmondshire District Council, Coun John Blackie, lets out holiday cottages in the Yorkshire Dales and has been inundated with interest – agreeing his first booking two hours after the Tour was announced last year.

He feels other operators may not have been aware of the impact of closures and the need to make sure visitors turn up early.

“Whether other people were aware of that, I suspect they weren’t and I suspect the publication of the extent of the road closures will come as a surprise to them and there will be a deal of consternation among operators as if you don’t come last thing on Friday night you won’t be able to come to Tour stages,” he said.

“Maybe we should have been rather better prepared earlier on because people book towards the end of the year for the following year, so you can say to see this very special once in a lifetime event you will have to book in a day early. There will be some issues but I don’t think they are issues that can’t be overcome.”

The minimum eight-hour closures have been organised to allow preparation of the race route, the handover to Tour de France organisers, access for the ‘publicity caravan’ comprising of more than 150 sponsors’ vehicles as well as for the race itself, removal of race infrastructure and the safe movement of spectators.

The leader of North Yorkshire County Council, Coun John Weighell, said: “This is a huge logistical challenge. It will not be confined to the two days of the weekend. We anticipate that the build-up – and some disruption on the roads – will occur throughout the preceding week.”

He said the travel disruption will be “a small price to pay for such a massive return”, as it is estimated that the Tour will bring £100m into the Yorkshire economy.

The first stage on Saturday July 5 begins in Leeds and passes through Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Hawes, Reeth, Masham and Ripon before the Harrogate finish.

Stage two on Sunday July 6 starts in York before passing Knaresborough, Harrogate, Silsden, Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield and Holmfirth with the finish in Sheffield.

The road closures have been organised through discussions between emergency services, the NHS, highways agencies, local authorities, Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation and the UK Government firm overseeing Tour planning, TdFHUB2014Ltd.

A TdFHUB2014Ltd spokesman said: “The Tour de France is the biggest annual sporting event in the world, so spectators should plan well ahead and think about where they would like to watch and get there early. Movement may be limited on the day, so many spectators will be choosing a particular spot.

“There will be dedicated spectator hubs along the route, which are sure to prove popular locations to watch the race. More information will be released on letouryorkshire.com in the weeks to come to help people plan.”

Visit www.letouryorkshire.com or www.northyorks.gov.uk.

Full list of road closures in North Yorkshire

Stage One road closures – Saturday, July 5, 2014.

The roads listed will be closed for at least eight hours on the day of stage one of the Tour de France 2014.

Given the expected number of visitors to North Yorkshire for the event, it is likely that roads will be closed for most of the Saturday.

Wherever possible, access will be maintained on key routes that cross the closed roads for as long as possible before the race itself takes place.

Craven district : A65 from the county boundary to the A6069 Otley Road junction; A6069 from the A65 to Skipton High Street; A6131 Skipton High Street; B6265 from Skipton High Street to Threshfield; B6160 from Threshfield to Kidstones.

Richmondshire District: B6160 from Kidstones to A684 junction near West Burton; A684 from B6160 to Hawes; C32 from Hawes to Thwaite (Buttertubs); B6270 from Thwaite to Grinton; C106 from Grinton to Leyburn; A6108 from Moor Lane, Leyburn to Wensley Road, Leyburn (West of Leyburn Market Place); A684 from the roundabout next to the Bolton Arms to A6108 Middleham Road (Leyburn); A6108 from Leyburn to Jervaulx.

Hambleton District: A6108 Binsoe to West Tanfield.

Harrogate Borough: A6108 Jervaulx to Binsoe; A6108 West Tanfield to Ripon Bypass; A61 Ripon Bypass to A59/A61 New Park roundabout; A61 Ripon Road Harrogate; A61 Parliament Street.

Harrogate: Most of Harrogate Town centre

Stage Two road closures - Sunday, July 6, 2014.

For stage two of the Tour de France 2014 the roads listed below will be closed for a minimum of eight hours.

Given the expected number of visitors to North Yorkshire, it is likely that the roads will be closed for most of the Sunday.

Wherever possible, access will be maintained on key routes that cross the closed roads for as long as possible before the race itself takes place.

Harrogate Borough: A59 Moor Monkton to A658 / A59 roundabout (Harrogate Bypass); A59 A658 roundabout to A59/ A661 roundabout (Empress Roundabout); A59 Empress Roundabout to B6161 roundabout; A59 B6161 roundabout to Blubberhouses Moor.

Craven District: A59 Blubberhouses Moor to Bolton Abbey roundabout; B6160 Bolton Abbey to county boundary.

Spectators hoping to see stage two of the Tour de France pass through York can get their hands on free tickets from 9am tomorrow.

City of York Council and York Racecourse, where the second stage of the world renowned cycle race will prepare to start on July 6, have announced that those wishing to witness Le Grand Départ in the city must apply for tickets.

After working with Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation and Welcome to Yorkshire, the organisations are stipulating that no more than four tickets can be ordered per household.

York Racecourse will host giant screens and hundreds of TVs so visitors can follow all the action from the Tour stage before it finishes in Sheffield, as well as letting them enjoy the Wimbledon men’s final and British Formula One Grand Prix. Spectators can also view local sports club displays and enjoy a range of food and drink.

Coun Sonja Crisp, the council’s lead member for leisure, culture and tourism, said: “We want to make the Grand Départ from York an amazing experience for everyone involved.”

Along with the announcement of Tour tickets, the council has released details of Tour de France parking and three specially set up city campsites for visitors.

A temporary festival-style campsite will be set up at Monk Stray, a Parisian luxury camping experience will spring into action in a meadow next to the McArthurGlen York Designer Outlet and a riverside site next to the Millennium Bridge and Rowntree Park will offer camping along with Tour de France fun fairs, big screens and entertainment all weekend.

Both organisations are urging people to book parking early. Visit www.letouryork.com or www.yorkracecourse.co.uk for details.

All 20,000 free tickets to view the start of stage two of the Tour de France from York Racecourse were snapped up within hours of their release.

From being made available to the general public from 9am this morning, around 3,000 were taken in the first hour and by 1.30pm all 20,000 were allocated for the send off for riders on July 6.

As the countdown to the world famous cycle race continues, Coun Sonja Crisp, City of York Council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, has branded the response from fans as “amazing”.

She said: “It just shows what an appetite there is for this, the world’s largest single sporting event, in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

“We’re very grateful to York Racecourse for the great job they did issuing the tickets.

“We’re being asked about the possibility of more tickets being released. Everyone’s safety has to be the priority and we have to consider the quality of their experience, so a decision will be made later in spring.

“Meanwhile there are still many, many more opportunities to enjoy the race around the city which are yet to be announced.”

Anyone finding they no longer need their tickets or have spare, are requested to contact the racecourse for the booking to be cancelled and the ticket reallocated.

Stage two of the Tour on Sunday July 6 starts in York before passing Knaresborough, Harrogate, Silsden, Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield and Holmfirth with the finish in Sheffield.

It will follow the first stage on Saturday July 5, which begins in Leeds and passes through Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Hawes, Reeth, Masham and Ripon before finishing in Harrogate.

Visit www.letour.york.gov.uk for camping, parking and merchandise offers.

Some of the most picturesque countryside in Yorkshire is being made available Tour de France fans looking to camp out to watch this summer’s Grand Départ.

The National Trust, which will invest any money made back into conservation, is allowing visitors to sleep under the stars at spots including Bucken and Hardcastle Crags, Brimham Rocks and East Riddlesden Hall when the race rolls into town on July 5 and 6.

It comes as Tour fever begins to ramp up across the county, with all 20,000 free tickets to view the second stage of the Tour take off from York Racecourse on July 6 being snapped up by fans within four and a half hours yesterday.

Joanna Royle, from the Nation Trust in Yorkshire, said: “For the Yorkshire Dales, this campsite offers a fantastic opportunity for people to be part of the sporting spectacle while also enjoying the area and helping us care for it.”

Meanwhile Tour de France-themed events all over the region look set to thrive, with Ilkley Carnival giving visitors an early Yorkshire Tour taster on May 5.

For the race itself camp sites are to be set up at sports clubs across Ilkley, and though camping on Ilkley Moor is being discouraged, at least one walking tour will be hosted in the week preceding it by the Friends of Ilkley Moor.

Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/yorkshire for more on the National Trust camp sites, for which early booking is advised.

THE 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France will cover 120 miles through some of the best known parts of the Yorkshire Dales and surrounding countryside.

The race begins on July 5, 2014, outside Leeds’s historic Town Hall. Riders will pass famous Yorkshire locations including Harewood House and Ilkley Moor, and the first yellow jersey of the tour will be presented in Harrogate.

The second stage, which will be 125 miles long, includes perhaps the most famous climb in British cycling - up Holme Moss, near Huddersfield.

It will also pass through Holmfirth, famous as the location of the long-running BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine.

This will be the second time Britain has hosted the Grand Depart and the fourth visit in all following a single stage in Plymouth in 1974 and two across the south of England 20 years later.

The world’s most famous bike race begins outside France every other year.

But some major Yorkshire cities, including Bradford, missed out when the route was announced. Another area tipped for inclusion which did not make the final Yorkshire route is Scarborough and the county’s East Coast.

• {http://www2.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/tdfstage1.pdf|Download Stage 1 as a PDF|Stage 1 Map}

• {http://www2.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/tdfstage2.pdf|Download Stage 2 as a PDF|Stage 1 Map}

SCOTT Thwaites’ chances of making his Tour de France debut in Leeds this summer moved a step closer last night when his team were given a wild card into this year’s race.

Up-and-coming German outfit NetApp Endura were one of four teams selected last night alongside the 18 automatically-invited professional teams, of which Team Sky are Britain’s representatives.

Burley-in-Wharfedale rider Thwaites, 23, is entering his second season with NetApp Endura and begins his campaign at the Mallorca Challenge in February.

He is a two-time winner of the Otley Grand Prix and a former national circuit race champion. A top-10 finish at the 2013 Tour of Britain was one of the highlights of his first year with NetApp, who themselves have risen quickly thanks mainly to the exploits of Leopold Konig, a Czech rider who won a stage of the Vuelta Espana last season.

This year’s Tour de France begins in Leeds on July 5, with the opening stage concluding in Harrogate. The second stage runs from York to Sheffield the following day.

With the countdown on to the arrival of the tour de France in Leeds, Sarah Freeman reveals details of the 100-day celebration which will ensure the event goes up a gear.

There is probably a good reason why no previous host of the Tour de France’s Grand Départ has ever attempted to stage a major cultural festival alongside the main event.

The logistics of masterminding a route to challenge the world’s best riders while maximising marketing opportunities are complex enough. Add in the need to deliver a memorable spectator experience while convincing sceptics that the millions spent will be far outweighed by the long term benefits and just the sheer effort needed to turn a two day bike ride into an economic success would have most reaching for the headache tablets.

However, ever since Yorkshire sneaked up on the rails and pinched the right to host the 2014 Grand Départ ahead of a rival bid by VisitScotland, which had the backing of both the Government and British cycling, the plans have always been ambitious.

Welcome to Yorkshire announced early on that it was determined to stage a major cultural festival to complement the cycling and a few weeks ago the official name was unveiled - Yorkshire Festival 2014. It might be straight to the point, but today the final piece of the jigsaw falls into place as the full programme of events, spanning 100 days, is revealed. If they can pull it off, it will be almost as impressive as Bradley Wiggins winning both the Tour and Olympic gold in the same year.

For starters, there’s the Ghost Peloton which will see illuminated cyclists ride in formation across the Yorkshire landscape under the direction of one of the county’s leading dance companies. Or how about a high wire tribute to Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, two of Italy’s greatest cyclists. Then there’s the performances by the Tour de Force orchestra where all the instruments are made from old bike parts and over in Calderdale a team will attempt to answer the question, ‘how many people does it take to pull a piano up the longest continuous ascent in England?’ During the six mile haul, local and international pianists will attempt to perform a specially commissioned music cycle.

The programme will be launched this morning at Trinity Leeds and somewhere in the crowd will be the festival’s executive producer Henrietta Duckworth. She will no doubt be in the background, allowing the performers to take centre stage as they give a flavour of what’s to come, but listen carefully and you might just be able to hear her take one very big deep breath.

“Yes, this is where it all begins,” she says. “The commissioning process began last year and we had more than 400 applications. To stage all of them we would have needed £18m which I think shows the scale of ambition and the real desire to be part of the Grand Départ. Yes, we could have done a 10-day festival, but the Tour de France is a real opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and while it’s going to be challenging, it will be absolutely worth it.”

The festival, which is being funded by Yorkshire Water, Arts Council England and the various local authorities, has a more modest budget of around £2m and between March 27 and July 6, that money will be used to bring 47 projects to life.

“Having kept the details under wraps for so long, it is so good to be finally able to share the secret,” says Henrietta, deftly side-stepping the question of which event she is most looking forward to. “I can’t possibly say, it’s like asking someone to pick their favourite child.”

Nevertheless there are some definite highlights. Not least, the decision to commission Maxine Peake to adapt her radio play about Leeds cycling legend Beryl Burton for the West Yorkshire Playhouse stage. Beginning her career in the 1950s, Beryl dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles.

The Shameless actress may hail from the other side of the Pennines, but having also written the radio play Queens of the Coal Age based on the story of the story of four miners’ wives during the bitter strike of 1984, she knows how to capture that distinctly Yorkshire voice.

“I was given Beryl’s autobiography as a gift from my boyfriend a few years ago now and I was struck immediately by her strength and determination,” she says. “The ordinary and extraodinariness of Beryl. She was an amazing woman, yet it felt to me outside of cycling circles very few people have heard of her.

“Her achievements were nothing short of remarkable, her dedication, talent and sacrifice as a cyclist was incredible. Here was a housewife and mother from Morley who was also the top athlete in her chosen field. How did she balance all of those things? I originally developed Beryl as a radio play for the BBC, but what better place to do the stage play than in her home city.”

The festival hopes to build on the success of the Cultural Olympiad staged in the run up to London 2012 which set out to prove that the twin disciplines of art and sport had more in common than many thought.

“What happened during the Olympics was transformative. It saw people working together in a totally different ways and that’s what we want to do in this festival. Take the Ghost Peloton. It will be performed by cycling enthusiasts, but it is being choreographed by Sharon Watson, the artistic director of Phoenix Dance. One of the really exciting things about large scale events like this is the chance to forge partnerships between people who would never normally come together.”

As with the Olympics, organisers are conscious of two watchwords - “accessibility” and “legacy”. There has been a deliberate geographic spread of events, one which takes in areas like Scarborough, which are not on the Grand Depart route. Also those bids that didn’t make the cut are being invited to register as a fringe event which will mean they can use the festival’s official branding and there are also plans to photograph and film some of the projects to ensure they reach as wide an audience as possible. What then of legacy?

“It is something we have thought a lot about. There are some concrete legacies like the fact we have commissioned a song which we hope choirs will adopt and perform long after the Grand Depart has moved on and schools will be able to access various educational downloads which we hope will bring the events alive in the classroom. “However, there is a much more subtle legacy. Yes, we hope the festival will boost tourism, but we also want people to feel that they own this festival. It’s about fostering a feeling of pride in Yorkshire being able to deliver projects of real scale and ambition.”

The countdown is on. Sarah Freeman reveals the highlights of the 100-day festival which will celebrate the arrival of the Grand Départ in Yorkshire

There is probably a good reason why no previous host of the Tour de France’s Grand Départ has ever attempted to stage a major cultural festival alongside the main event.

The logistics of masterminding a route to challenge the world’s best riders while maximising marketing opportunities are complex enough. Add in the need to deliver a memorable spectator experience while convincing sceptics that the millions spent will be far outweighed by the long-term benefits and just the sheer effort needed to turn a two-day bike ride into an economic success would have most reaching for the headache tablets.

However, ever since Yorkshire sneaked up on the rails and pinched the right to host the 2014 Grand Départ ahead of a rival bid by VisitScotland, which had the backing of both the Government and British cycling, the plans have always been ambitious.

Welcome to Yorkshire announced early on that it was determined to stage a major cultural festival to complement the cycling and a few weeks ago the official name was unveiled – Yorkshire Festival 2014. It might be straight to the point, but today the final piece of the jigsaw falls into place as the full programme of events, spanning 100 days, is revealed. If they can pull it off, it will be almost as impressive as Bradley Wiggins winning both the Tour and Olympic gold in the same year.

For starters, there’s the Ghost Peloton which will see illuminated cyclists ride in formation across the Yorkshire landscape under the direction of one of the county’s leading dance companies. Or how about a high wire tribute to Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, two of Italy’s greatest cyclists. Then there’s the performances by the Tour de Force orchestra where all the instruments are made from old bike parts and over in Calderdale a team will attempt to answer the question, ‘how many people does it take to pull a piano up the longest continuous ascent in England?’ During the six mile haul, local and international pianists will attempt to perform a specially commissioned music cycle.

The programme will be launched this morning at Trinity Leeds and somewhere in the crowd will be the festival’s executive producer Henrietta Duckworth. She will no doubt be in the background, allowing the performers to take centre stage as they give a flavour of what’s to come, but listen carefully and you might just be able to hear her take one very big deep breath.

“Yes, this is where it all begins,” she says. “The commissioning process began last year and we had more than 400 applications. To stage all of them we would have needed £18m which I think shows the scale of ambition and the real desire to be part of the Grand Départ. Yes, we could have done a 10 day festival, but the Tour de France is a real opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and while it’s going to be challenging, it will be absolutely worth it.”

The festival, which is being funded by Yorkshire Water, Arts Council England and the various local authorities, has a more modest budget of around £2m and between March 27 and July 6, that money will be used to bring 47 projects to life.

“Having kept the details under wraps for so long, it is so good to be finally able to share the secret,” says Henrietta, deftly side-stepping the question of which event she is most looking forward to. “I can’t possibly say, it’s like asking someone to pick their favourite child.”

Nevertheless there are some definite highlights. Not least, the decision to commission Maxine Peake to adapt her radio play about Leeds cycling legend Beryl Burton for the West Yorkshire Playhouse stage. Beginning her career in the 1950s, Beryl dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles.

The Shameless actress may hail from the other side of the Pennines, but having also written the radio play Queens of the Coal Age based on the story of the story of four miners’ wives during the bitter strike of 1984, she knows how to capture that distinctly Yorkshire voice.

“I was given Beryl’s autobiography as a gift from my boyfriend a few years ago now and I was struck immediately by her strength and determination,” she says. “The ordinary and extraodinariness of Beryl. She was an amazing woman, yet it felt to me outside of cycling circles very few people have heard of her.

“Her achievements were nothing short of remarkable , her dedication, talent and sacrifice as a cyclist was incredible. Here was a housewife and mother from Morley who was also the top athlete in her chosen field. How did she balance all of those things? I originally developed Beryl as a radio play for the BBC, but what better place to do the stage play than in her home city.”

The festival hopes to build on the success of the Cultural Olympiad staged in the run up to London 2012 which set out to prove that the twin disciplines of art and sport had more in common than many thought.

“What happened during the Olympics was transformative. It saw people working together in a totally different ways and that’s what we want to do in this festival. Take the Ghost Peloton. It will be performed by cycling enthusiasts, but it is being choreographed by Sharon Watson, the artistic director of Phoenix Dance. One of the really exciting things about large scale events like this is the chance to forge partnerships between people who would never normally come together.”

As with the Olympics, organisers are conscious of two watchwords - “accessibility” and “legacy”. There has been a deliberate geographic spread of events, one which takes in areas like Scarborough, which are not on the Grand Depart route. Also those bids that didn’t make the cut are being invited to register as a fringe event which will mean they can use the festival’s official branding and there are also plans to photograph and film some of the projects to ensure they reach as wide an audience as possible. What then of legacy?

“It is something we have thought a lot about. There are some concrete legacies like the fact we have commissioned a song which we hope choirs will adopt and perform long after the Grand Depart has moved on and schools will be able to access various educational downloads which we hope will bring the events alive in the classroom.

“However, there is a much more subtle legacy. Yes, we hope the festival will boost tourism and economic spend, but we also want people to feel that they own this festival. As much as anything, it’s about fostering a feeling of pride in Yorkshire being able to deliver projects of real scale and ambition.”

The wheels of the first ever Tour de France cultural festival have rolled into motion with a glittering flashmob.

Singers, artists and performers joined forces at the Trinity Leeds shopping centre to perform the theme song for the first ever Yorkshire Festival, as the programme of events for the landmark 100-day arts celebration was announced today.

A carnival snail, woolly bikes, choirs and brass bands emerged from the centre’s shops to join band Hope & Social in blasting out ‘The Big Wide’ to a growing crowd of interested shoppers.

A varied 47-project events programme was then announced ahead of the festival, which will see Yorkshire buzz with artwork, installations and cultural events from March 27 right through to the Grand Depart itself on July 5 and 6.

At the grand unveiling of the listings at Leeds’ Holy Trinity Church today, executive producer of Yorkshire Festival 2014, Henrietta Duckworth, said the creative community had been “challenged to imagine, innovate and create” by organisers.

She said: “Yorkshire’s a big wide county and we’ve worked with our world-class artists to create a rich and diverse programme of opportunities and surprises.”

The festival is the brainchild of tourism firm Welcome to Yorkshire and has been backed by Yorkshire Water, Arts Council England and local authorities across the region.

The line-up of projects was whittled down from almost 400 bids.

Highlights include the world’s first Ghost Peloton, which will see a team of around 50 cyclists and a collection of dancers use innovative remote-controlled light suits to produce a stunning evening light show outside The Tetley, in Leeds.

Angus Farquhar, creative director of NVA which is behind the Ghost Peloton alongside Leeds’ Phoenix Dance Theatre, explained how the work originates from the Speed of Light project that was commissioned for the 2012 London Olympics and has been taken as far as Japan.

He said: “This is an incredible opportunity to have this stage of Yorkshire to be presented to the wider world.”

Elsewhere the inspirational story of Morley cycling heroine Beryl Burton will be told in a stage adaptation of TV star Maxine Peake’s 2012 BBC Radio 4 play at West Yorkshire Playhouse, in Leeds, and young farmers and artists will combine to create eight stunning land art pieces across South Pennines landscape for Fields of Vision, which is being co-ordinated by Pennine Prospects.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “The Yorkshire Festival 2014 will be a county-wide celebration of arts and culture, creating excitement and anticipation in the 100 days before the greatest free sporting show on the planet arrives in Yorkshire.”

For information and listings visit www.yorkshirefestival.co.uk.

Welcoming the world’s most watched annual sporting event could well be Yorkshire’s greatest ever coup.

And with the Tour de France’s Grand Depart just a matter of months away, the Yorkshire Post is encouraging readers to embrace the festival spirit.

Through a series of campaigns, giveaways and promotions the county’s national newspaper will add to in-depth, dedicated Le Tour coverage as we bid to put you at the heart of the action.

As we gear up for the landmark event, Team Sky rider and Leeds lad Josh Edmondson is writing a monthly column from Saturday, as we follow our cycling prospects right to the start line outside Leeds Town Hall on July 5.

On the same day Edmondson will also star in our free Tour Talk podcast featuring cycling journalists Nick Westby and Richard Fidler along with Tour de France news reporter Jonathan Brown.

Regular Tour de France articles will invite readers’ picture submissions, while providing all the news updates and information you need to capitalise on what is possibly the greatest sporting attraction Yorkshire will ever host.

On top of regular in-paper Tour coverage in the lead up to July, we are preparing a 32-page supplement for our March 28 issue as the countdown continues to stages one and two of the Grand Depart.

Nicola Furbisher, managing editor of the Yorkshire Post, said: “This is a huge event for the county and we want to make sure that everybody, whether they like cycling or not, feels part of this glorious festival.

“We’re inviting everyone to be part of it. We’re looking for readers to join in with our future campaigns on what will be a fantastic adventure.”

Our two-wheeled push will begin with the Let’s Get Cycling legacy campaign, as we bid to bring cycling to everyone from school pupils and church groups to businesses and Yorkshire families from March 3.

We want to get as many people on their bikes as possible, embracing Ride to Work Day on June 16, issuing beginner’s guides, health advice, how-to videos and kit giveaways to ensure Le Tour has a lasting impact on our region.

With your help, the YP also plans to turn Yorkshire yellow by asking readers to send in their pictures of everything from yellow bunting and yellow clothing to yellow shop fronts and yellow garden arrangements.

The Yellow Yorkshire campaign, which will roll into action on March 24, aims to line both the Tour routes and the region with a memorable summer glow.

And as the start of the iconic race nears, we will follow a team of Yorkshire cyclists along both stage one and two of the Grand Depart in an eight-part Tykes on Tour series.

We will guide you through all the must-see sights en route as well as offer advice on riding and where to stay come race day.

We also want our readers to show they’re giving cycling a go by inviting On Yer Bike! pictures, whether you’re riding to the shops or conquering an exhausting hill climb, from May 5.

Our whirlwind guided tour of the stages will also see a specially made YP static bicycle tour places such as Harrogate Spring Flower Show, York’s Coppergate Shopping Centre and our Le Grand DeParty event at Yorkshire Food and Drink Live, in Leeds, on June 6, 7 and 8. Visitors can win prizes and take on our Go the Mile challenge.

The Yorkshire Post website has also been developed to include a special Tour de France tab, where you can find the latest Tour news and sports coverage, features, photo galleries, cycling profiles of legendary riders such as Beryl Burton and Barry Hoban as well as a Le Tour Tweets section linking to all major Tour Twitter feeds.

For everything Tour de France, visit www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/tdf.

GET INVOLVED IN CYCLING SPECIALS

We want you on board to help to make the two-stage visit of the Tour de France everything it can be.

Through an interactive series of campaigns, including Yellow Yorkshire and On Yer Bike!, we hope to see readers join in and get creative.

You can tweet your pictures and comments to our @leedsnews Twitter handle using the hashtag #TDFYorks or post them on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/yep.newspaper.

The Yorkshire Post website has been developed to include a new Tour de France tab, where you can find the latest news and sports coverage and comment on our stories. Visit www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/tdf.

To speak to our Tour de France news reporter Jonathan Brown, email jonathan.brown@ypn.co.uk, tweet @jonnybrownyep or call 0113 2388134.

For advertising email Joanna Sier at joanna.sier@jpress.co.uk, tweet @joannasier or call 0113 2388689.

OUR printed supplements on the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France contain a wealth of information about the spectacle heading Yorkshire’s way in July.

Browse the supplements exactly as they appeared in print by clicking the links below. Each supplement will open on your screen as an e-magazine. You can flip the pages and click to zoom in closer.

• {http://bit.ly/1exgDr4|Supplement 1|Supplement 1}

• {http://bit.ly/Mv1CQ4|Supplement 2|Supplement 2}

Join us for our monthly podcast counting down to the Tour de France in Yorkshire, the biggest sports event to hit the region for decades. Download this Yorkshire Post podcast here or via iTunes.

• {http://video.jpress.co.uk/editorial/YPOS/TourTalkMar1.mp3|Play now on your PC|Windows Media Streaming Podcast}

• {http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=217626567|Listen or subscribe free in iTunes|iTunes Podcast}

• {http://www2.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/yp_movies/TourTalkMar1.mp3|Download to any device|Download Podcast MP3}

• {http://feeds.feedburner.com/YorkshirePostSports|SportsTalk podcast feed|Feed Burner Podcast}

Rotherham cyclist Ben Swift headlines our second TourTalk podcast, the 26-year-old joining us to discuss his start to the season as he bids to be a part of Team Sky’s roster for the 101st Tour this year, which begins right here in Yorkshire.

We hear from Andrew Denton, the head of media at Welcome to Yorkshire, on what plans they have in place for the 100 days to go and just how big an operation the media logistics are for a Tour de France.

And from Yorkshire Post Towers we have Nicola Furbisher, managing editor of both the YP and Evening Post, who discuss the numerous campaigns and initiatives that Johnston Press Yorkshire has planned to mark the Grand Depart being staged in the White Rose county.

Nick Westby hosts TourTalk, from the Yorkshire Post and associated Johnston Press titles.

{http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/audio-video/sportstalk-podcast|Visit our SPORTS TALK HOME PAGE with full programme archive and options to receive programmes automatically|SportsTalk home page}

Landmarks staging the start and finish of Yorkshire’s Tour de France Grand Depart stages this summer look set to be decorated with a series of special Tour logos.

Leeds Town Hall, which overlooks the Headrow start line to the first stage of this year’s iconic race, has been draped in Leeds City Council’s brand new ‘Cycling Starts Here’ Tour logo ahead of the big send off on July 5.

Elsewhere Harrogate Borough Council’s ‘Harrogate District Proud Hosts’ branding is to be released this week as the town prepares to dress windows, lamp posts and banners to welcome the stage one finale on the same day, with home support hoping to see Mark Cavendish – whose mother is from Harrogate – ride to glory.

July 6 stage two start host City of York Council has already been busy promoting its ‘Experience the Race’ catchline by branding its camping and caravan parks, while details of Sheffield City Council’s branding is still to come.

The logos are to be used by the authorities to decorate the respective cities, while Leeds in particular is hoping to use its logo help the city’s cyclists benefit from the Tour’s historic visit for years to come.

Coun Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “With this brand we wanted to create something unique for Leeds to demonstrate the immense pride we feel as the start city for this year’s Tour de France. The Grand Depart is going to be like nothing the city has ever seen before and we want everyone in Leeds to be part of the excitement as we build up to July.

“The logo looks very distinctive and modern, with the skyline celebrating both the history of Leeds as well as its future, and we hope it will prove popular across the city for people to identify with around the Grand Depart and other cycling events and activities to come.”

The Leeds logo will appear on banners and promotional dressing, while businesses, schools and communities are invited to use it so that all parts of the city can celebrate Le Tour.

It will complement both the official Tour de France Grand Depart branding and the Cycle Yorkshire county-wide legacy visuals.

The 2014 Tour de France begins in Leeds on Saturday 5 July, with stage one taking the riders 190km to Harrogate.

Stage two on Sunday 6 July is 200km from York to Sheffield, while stage three on Monday 7 July is 159km from Cambridge to London.

It is estimated that 98 per cent of the population of Yorkshire will be within an hour of the route during its two days in the county, with the economic benefit expected to be in excess of £100m.

Visit www.yorkshire.com/le-tour-yorkshire for information.

Plans aimed at keeping the city tasked with launching Yorkshire’s first ever Tour de France stage on July 5 have been released today.

Leeds City Council is calling on residents to plan ahead after it announced that roads on or connected to stage one in Leeds will be closed for at least eight hours on race day.

Most of the roads are expected to shut from 7am to 3pm.

Vehicle access to the city centre will be restricted, while the Tour infrastructure including the publicity caravan of vehicles, spectators and the race itself moves in and out of the city.

The plans, put together with help from emergency services, mean the route must be cleared of all public vehicles prior to the closures. A revised bus timetable and park and ride service will be released nearer to the event.

Coun Lucinda Yeadon, the council’s lead member for leisure, said every effort is being made to minimise disruption.

She said: “We want everyone to start planning now how they can make the absolute most of it.”

The closures follow the route of stage one, which starts on The Headrow and covers portions of Eastgate, Regent Street, Scott Hall Road, Harrogate Road, the A659 from Harewood, following Otley Road and Arthington Lane through Pool-in-Wharfedale and on to Otley before heading out of the district through Ilkley. Through traffic will not be permitted during the closures, though there will be very limited access from the Leeds Inner Ring Road.

Meanwhile the 30,000 people who applied to become Tour Makers are now being asked to fill in a final application. The volunteer officials will greet visitors and marshall parts of the three UK stages.

Visit www.leeds.gov.uk/granddepartleeds for Tour details or email granddepartleeds@leeds.gov.uk for regular Leeds City Council Tour updates.

Rotherham cyclist Ben Swift has enjoyed a promising start to a 2014 campaign he hopes will be headlined by a Tour de France appearance on home soil.

The 26-year-old Team Sky rider, who underwent shoulder surgery six months ago, recorded two podium finishes in three days at the Mallorca Challenge.

The sprinter finished third in the Trofeo Platja de Muro on Wednesday just two days after breasting the tape second at the Trofeo Ses Salines.

It represents a healthy return from Swift given his injury problems and the fact that this week on the sun-kissed island was a perfect opportunity to lay down a marker.

Swift is hoping to overhaul CJ Sutton and Edvald Boasson Hagen in the race to get the nod from Dave Brailsford to be Sky’s sprinter in their nine-man Tour de France team.

This year’s Tour begins in Leeds on July 5 with the first stage ending in a sprint finish into Harrogate.

The second stage runs from York to Sheffield, and ends on the roads Swift regularly trains on.

Swift rode the Tour de France in 2011 but has been blighted by a shoulder injury ever since.

Supported by Sir Bradley Wiggins and Leeds’s Josh Edmondson, 21, among others, Swift raced onto the podium in yesterday’s 162km race, behind Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) but ahead of Boasson Hagen who was sixth.

Sports director Dan Frost said: “The guys stuck to the plan and did exactly what we talked about.

“They did a good job to set up Swifty and make the race hard for the other sprinters, but a couple of those other sprinters are really good at climbing.

“There wasn’t much we could do in the end, Quick-Step had a really strong team here and had a lot of riders there at the finish.

“You can always look at the race afterwards and say ‘we should have done this or that’ but it was a good plan and we rode well. We had a bit of bad luck at times with Josh (Edmondson) and Sebastian (Henao) having a few technical issues on Soller.

“Both Kiry (Vasil Kiryienka) and Brad (Wiggins) did a great job pulling on the flat part and then Eddy did his work in the sprint.

“Swifty was where he should be but maybe he opened a touch too early today. It’s always a balancing act in the sprint but I think it was going to be tough to beat Meersman today. Well done to him.”

OUR printed supplements on the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France contain a wealth of information about the spectacle heading Yorkshire’s way in July.

Browse the supplements exactly as they appeared in print by clicking the links below. Each supplement will open on your screen as an e-magazine. You can flip the pages and click to zoom in closer.

• {http://bit.ly/1exgDr4|Supplement 1|Supplement 1}

• {http://bit.ly/Mv1CQ4|Supplement 2|Supplement 2}