Bradley Wiggins, Marcel Kittel and Thomas Voeckler were the star turns of the Tour de Yorkshire presentation on Thursday evening
Stars of cycling turned out to the presentation of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire on Thursday in York, to celebrate the start of the thee-day race.
Welcome to Yorkshire chief Gary Verity and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme were in attendance for the ribbon cutting, as was five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault.
But the most attention fell on the riders, with Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) and of course, Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins) on hand to talk to the gathering cycling fans.
The UCI 2.1 event begins on Friday with a 175km stage from Bridlington to Scarborough, and you can find out where to catch all the action and all the information on every stage in our where to watch and full stage by stage preview.
Britain’s first Tour de France stage winner, Brian Robinson was in York to build-up to the start of the Tour de Yorkshire
Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault also made the trip to York
Marcel Kittel makes his long-awaited return to racing at the first edition of the British race
Gary Verity, Christian Prudhomme and Hinault cut the ribbon
Local rider Russell Downing spoke on stage to the gathered audience
Britain’s Ben Swift leads Team Sky into the three-day race
Tommy Voeckler will be gurning his way through the route this weekend
Bradley Wiggins attracted the most attention on the day…
Wiggins speaks on stage at the York presentation
Wiggins was in high demand with the press
Yorkshire prepares to celebrate its new race