While the thought of a professional bike race zooming through a U.S. national park draws immediate criticism from some sectors, the folks on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are looking forward to next year's Tour de France.
Why? Because one stage of the world's most famous bike race will course through a portion of the park in Great Britain as the cyclists pedal through Bolton Abbey on their way from York to Sheffield.
“The staging of the Grand Départ is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase this amazing area to people all over the world – with the added bonus that it also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the creation of the national park," said National Park Authority Chairman Peter Charlesworth. “An estimated 400,000 people are expected to line the route within the National Park and for all the businesses and communities, it’s a chance to boost their incomes like never before. And we are pulling out all the stops to encourage the spectators to visit us again when the Tour de France has long gone."
To build on this visibility, the park authority has "launched its own four-minute-long video highlighting the amazing road cycle routes in the national park – complete with commentary by world-renowned cycling commentator Phil Liggett."
Comments
Kudos to the Authority for having the vision to see what a benefit such an event can be to a National Park.