Yorkshire may lack high mountains, but it boasts a wealth of gruelling climbs worthy of testing the legs of the world’s best professional cyclists. The case was proven in this year’s Tour de Yorkshire (May 3-6), with the race’s first ever summit finish included on stage two on the Cow and Calf, Ilkley.

The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in Yorkshire, England which started in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.1 event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. From 2015 to 2017 it was a three-day race and in 2018 will expand to four days starting on Thursday 3 May to Sunday 6 May.

The idea for the race arose as a legacy event following the significant success of the visit of the 2014 Tour de France to the county. The first two stages of the 2014 Tour, also organised by ASO, from Leeds to Harrogate, and York to Sheffield, were nicknamed Le Tour de Yorkshire.

To date, the race has always taken place over the three days before the May Day bank holiday (which in Britain is on the first Monday in May).

This year, the cyclists went wheel-spinning their way into stage 3 of the race starting in the Market Town of Richmond and several of our branches were busy getting in to full motion in supporting the event. John Blenkiron & Sons Funeral Directors branch in Richmond created a perfect back drop for the placing of the Tour De Yorkshire model bike.

As the Tour De Yorkshire race continued our WM Dodgson and Son Funeral Services Funeral Partners branch in Kippax turned heads with a stunning window display and show stopper cake put together by Helen Phelan, Nancy Brown & Jackie Higgins.

Fantastic efforts were made my local businesses, supporters, locals and cycle enthusiasts from around the world to support a great event, and it was most definitely a weekend not to be missed!