Home Stars Ben Swift and Tom Pidcock Confirmed for Tour de Yorkshire race

Ben Swift and Tom Pidcock – two of Yorkshire’s highest-profile riders – have been named in the Great Britain Cycling Team who will compete at next week’s Tour de Yorkshire

Swift usually rides for the UAE Team Emirates squad but will represent his national team in his home race between 3-6 May. The 30 year old from Rotherham is a former world track champion who has also triumphed at the Tours of California, Romandie and Poland, as well as the Tour Down Under, during his 10 seasons as a pro.

He has not competed in Yorkshire since crashing on the first stage of the 2015 edition and will be making his return to action in this year’s race after suffering a non-displaced fracture of his vertebrae at the prestigious Tour of Flanders earlier this month. 

Pidcock meanwhile, commonly competes for Team Wiggins, and is considered one of the hottest prospects in the sport.

The 18 year old from Leeds held National, European and World junior Cyclo-cross titles before winning the junior time trial at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships. Another success at last year’s junior Paris-Roubaix confirmed his all-round credentials before he turned professional on the road at the start of this year.

Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity is looking forward to seeing the duo on the start line and believes the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire is shaping up to be the biggest and best one yet.

He said: “One of the key principles of the Tour de Yorkshire is that it allows young British talent to compete alongside the best riders in the world. That is no better personified by having Tom and Ben in our race."

“Tom is a true rising star while Ben is one of the most experienced riders in the peloton. Ben has competed at the very highest level for the last 10 years and it is tremendous that young, British riders get to ride alongside the likes of him, Greg Van Avermaet and Mark Cavendish at the Tour de Yorkshire.

“We are very pleased with the start list we’re assembling for this year’s race and the action is sure to be spectacular.”
 
Full details on the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire and Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race can be found at http://letouryorkshire.com

Welcome to Yorkshire has also launched its Tour de Yorkshire Land Art and Best Dressed Competitions. Full details on how to enter those can be found at http://letouryorkshire.com/landart  and http://letouryorkshire.com/bestdressed respectively.