The Tour de France is coming to Yorkshire and hopes are high that the race could pass through Bradford.

Yorkshire has beaten competition to bring the world’s largest annual sporting event to the county.

The region will host the Grand Depart, the opening two days of racing of the 2014 event, before it moves to London and into Europe.

The committee of the Tour de France is working out the exact route of the race through Yorkshire on July 5 and 6.

But the host city of the Grand Depart will be Leeds, which will also host a cycling and arts festival.

It is the first time the race will have been to the North of England, and yesterday’s news was welcomed by cycling clubs.

The push for Yorkshire to host the race, called Back le Bid, was spearheaded by tourist agency Welcome to Yorkshire and supported by Bradford Council, among others. Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Coun-cil’s executive member for culture, said: “We are lobbying hard to try to get Bradford included as part of the route because it would be great for Bradford tourism.”

David Green, secretary of the Keighley-based Bronte Wheelers, said: “I think it’s fabulous. I’ve always wanted to go and see the tour, but going over to France is a big thing, whereas now it’s coming to Yorkshire.”

He said as the racers covered upwards of 100 miles a day, there was a good chance the tour would be passing through the Bradford district at some point – and said he had heard the route could be going through the outskirts of Keighley.

He said the district had some excellent routes for professional cyclists, such as the ascent to the Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor.

The event is expected to bring a huge boost to the economy, as it attracts 12 million spectators annually, as well as 2,000 journalists, and enjoys 4,700 hours of TV coverage worldwide.

Gary Verity, of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “Today is a proud day for everyone involved in the bid and the county as a whole.”

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said they had been very keen to return to the UK after bringing the race to London in 2007, but both Bradley Wiggins’ Tour victory this year and the crowds for the Olympic cycling events had encouraged them to go back earlier than planned.