This is an opinion piece co-authored by Malcolm and Gia Margolis. Malcolm and Gia are Harrogate District Cycle Action group members, are recreational cyclists who founded Harrogate Wheel Easy in 2006, and continue to campaign for active travel.

The news that North Yorkshire looks set to host stages of the Tour of Britain this year and next is something to celebrate. 

It will attract many visitors to the county, benefitting the economy, provide an exciting sporting spectacle for those who live here and inspire people to take up cycling and improve their physical and mental health.

The tour is broadcast in over 100 countries, and last year had over 1.7 million viewers, with an estimated £62 million economic benefit, each stage generating £2 million to £12 million for the local economy. This promises a great return on the £750,000 investment to be made by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and North Yorkshire Council.

The tour has been described as a ‘shop window’ for host regions, showcasing towns, cities, and landscapes to national and international audiences, boosting future tourism. It highlights sustainable transport, encouraging environmental awareness and projects to improve community cycling facilities.

As previously when major cycle events have taken place in Yorkshire and elsewhere, it is likely to have another valuable benefit for all road users - pothole repairs and other improvements to substandard road surfaces to make them suitable for pelotons of racing cyclists.

Harrogate and North Yorkshire’s greatest cycling moment was on July 5, 2014 when the Tour de France opening stage, the Grand Depart, went 190 kilometres from Leeds Town Hall to Harrogate, featuring some of the finest Yorkshire countryside and climbs like Buttertubs Pass. Thousands of spectators lined the route, and decorative yellow bicycles were displayed by residents on walls and hedges in every town and village. The excitement was immense and unique. 

In 2017, Harrogate had another cycling success, providing the scene for the finishing sprint of the second stage of the Tour de Yorkshire.

Sadly, these golden opportunities to invest in a permanent legacy of improvements to our cycling network were missed. The highway authority spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants without delivering anything meaningful on the ground. The last significant projects delivered in our district are the Nidderdale Greenway in 2013, and the Showground Greenway from Hornbeam Park to the Great Yorkshire Showground in 2014.

The Nidderdale path, just under six miles from Harrogate through Ripley to Clint, is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of walkers and cyclists every year. The original goal remains, to extend it almost 30 miles to Scar House reservoir near the top of Nidderdale. It would transform options for travel in the dale which is now heavily car dependent.

Even more sadly, the next major cycle race to come to Harrogate, the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, was almost as disastrous as the Grand Depart had been a success, with torrential rain ruining the spectacle and leaving West Park Stray, where the fan zone had been, a mud bath. It cost over £120,000 to repair. Moreover, the rain had the unfortunate effect of dampening enthusiasm generated by the previous events to invest more into cycling. 

This is one reason why the local cycling network, in Harrogate and the rest of North Yorkshire, remains inadequate (in Ripon and Knaresborough almost non-existent) while nearby Leeds and York have transformed theirs. Further afield, places like Paris, Seville in Spain and the London boroughs such as Camden and Waltham Forest have shown that strong leadership is essential to secure a real commitment to make places safe for active travel rather than designed for the benefit of people in vehicles. In each case the plans initially met with widespread opposition which turned into widespread support once they’d bedded in.

The 2026 and 2027 North Yorkshire tour stages will be followed in August 2028 by both the 150th anniversary of the founding in Harrogate of the Bicycle Touring Club, now called Cycling UK with nearly 70,000 members, and the 250thanniversary of the creation of Harrogate’s treasured 200-acre Stray. 

The hope is that this time the race will not only bring tourists and a great spectacle but also overdue change in policy, prioritising active travel rather than cars.