The UK's biggest cycling race is on its way to Warwickshire
The Tour of Britain’s comes to Warwickshire on Friday (September 5th) and business leaders say it's a big win for local tourism
The UK's biggest professional cycling event, the Lloyds Tour of Britain is coming to Warwickshire on Friday (September 5).
The county will host the race's longest stage, with the 116-mile route starting in Atherstone at 10:30am and finishing at Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, travelling through all five district and boroughs of the county on the way.
Local business and tourism leaders say the event will be a major boost for businesses and the economy.
Corin Crane, Chief Executive Officer of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce said:
"It's easy to overlook exactly how important big sporting events are to to local economies. The Tour of Britain last year raised I think around about £30 million pounds across the UK.
When you break that down at a sort of local and regional level, each of those areas that it goes through has all those benefits of overnight stays with the cyclists and the tourists, and really raises the exposure of what those areas look like.
Last year, particularly areas like Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, they were seeing round about £5 billion boosts to their economies while those legs were in the local areas."
Mr Crane added that the event will also bring a sense of community spirit to Warwickshire:
"What's really exciting about it is there's a real local pride. Once you line those streets and see the cyclists coming past, there's a real feeling of how proud you are of your local areas, that sort of community feel to it all.
So as well as the money for our tourist attractions, the local pride's really important."