Wiggins set to take part when Tour de Yorkshire comes to Selby

The 2012 Tour de France winner will be leading his own 'Team Wiggins' development squad when the second stage of the race gets under way in Selby on Saturday, May 2nd. 

Details of Sir Bradleys involvement and the full list of competing teams were announced at a special 'Y15' event, hosted by Welcome to Yorkshire, at the Scarborough Spa earlier today. It was revealed that the biggest names in cycling will be competing in the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, including Team Sky, Team Giant Alpecin, BMC Racing Team, Team Lotto NL-Jumbo, and IAM Cycling.

Sixteen teams are set to compete total with over 100 riders taking part over the course of the festival between May 1st and 3rd. Amongst the big names of world cycling to confirm his attendance is Marcel Kittel who is set to return to Yorkshire just under a year after wearing the first yellow jersey of the 2014 Tour de France in Harrogate.

Former England cricket star Matt Prior announced his team, ONE Pro Cycling, will also be taking part, and said: "We are incredibly excited and proud to be racing in the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, particularly in our first year. The Grand Départ in Yorkshire was a huge inspiration for us setting up this team as it showed the level of interest there is in cycling and racing in the UK. Our riders will be massively looking forward to being on the start line with some of the biggest teams in the world." 

Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, said: “We will be glad to return to Yorkshire after the huge success of the Tour de France 2014 Grand Départ, the grandest ever. The first ever Tour de Yorkshire will be another occasion to showcase the outstanding landscapes of the county, especially of the coast where we didn’t go last year with Le Tour. Tour de Yorkshire will be a great opportunity to review young talents among British riders and enable them to ride with top Tour de France professional teams and cycling stars like Sir Bradley Wiggins and Marcel Kittel."

One of the first major names confirmed as taking part in the women’s race on day two is Dame Sarah Storey, one of Great Britain's most decorated female Paralympians in history having won 11 Gold, eight Silver and three Bronze medals across six Paralympic Games. In 2014 Sarah and her husband established women's team Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International, which dominated the UK domestic racing scene in their first season and, it has been announced today, will be racing the Women's Tour de Yorkshire.

The Tour de Yorkshire will take place on May 1-3. Stage 1 on Friday May 1 starts in Bridlington and finishes in Scarborough. Stage 2 on Saturday May 2 starts here in Selby and finishes in York with a women's race also on day two. Stage 3 on Sunday May 3 starts in Wakefield and finishes in Leeds.

The race will be shown live on television in the UK on ITV, throughout Europe on Eurosport. More than 70 countries around the world will be showing the race with a huge audience expected.

Details of a new marketing campaign have also been announced. Part of the GREAT campaign and working closely with Visit Britain, the investment will promote Yorkshire in the run up to the Tour de Yorkshire, particularly in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

A new film to promote the county and the new international cycle race was premiered at the Y15 event, featuring breath-taking aerial footage of iconic locations – building on Welcome to Yorkshire’s innovative use of film to promote the county as a “must see” destination for visitors from within the UK and overseas.

Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "‎Our aim is for the Tour de Yorkshire to be one of the biggest and best three-day races in the world and this incredible line-up is evidence that we can achieve that. It's a testament to our county that some of the top riders in the world want to come here. We are going to put on a show people will remember for the rest of their lives, whether they're lining the route or watching on TV as it is broadcast to countries around the world.

"We've talked for several years about Yorkshire's potential as a county and as a destination – and now our collective ambitions and dreams are becoming a reality. There must be millions of people around the world who now know of Yorkshire, who didn’t a couple of years ago – we’re firmly front of mind. Our ground-breaking work builds on that and together we will cement Yorkshire’s place on the world stage as a visitor destination.”