A NEW cycling club for Bradford has been boosted by a link up with the city's number one rugby club.

Bradford Bulls and its community foundation is throwing its support behind the Bradford Cycle Club initiative and is offering the use of Odsal Stadium as part of the link up.

The partnership - which will see the cycling club adopt Bulls' colours as its own - will be officially launched at Bulls' clash with Workington Town on April 24. Cyclists from all the district's cycling clubs and groups are invited to the game, where they will be able to cycle round the stadium and watch the game for free. The event, which is also celebrating Tour de Yorkshire Day, is on from 2pm to 5pm and there will be a showcase race at half-time in the rugby.

Mark Winder, chief executive officer of the Bradford Bulls Foundation, said: "We are in the early stages of forming a relationship with Bradford Cycle Club. They will adopt our colours as theirs.

"We are taking baby steps at the moment to ensure it works for both of us, with hopefully an end game of a cycle club based at Provident Stadium.

"We are looking for it to be a closed ride circuit. The diameter around the stadium is a mile."

He added: "We want to make a difference in Bradford, especially around physical activity and health.

"We are utilising the space we have and we want more people active in Bradford. We want to be more than just a rugby club.

"We are reaching out to the community and making Bradford a better place to live in."

Keen cyclists Adam Tasker and Taras Stefanyszyn are two of the people behind the cycling club idea.

Mr Tasker, who also runs Bradford-based Cycling 4 All, said: "There is no cycling club from Bradford city centre. They are all on the periphery of the area, like Otley and Ilkley.

"There are all sorts of cycling groups - black cycling groups, women's cycling groups - and lots of cycling activities in the city centre. This is an attempt to bring it all together a little bit - people with a shared interest who just want to go riding."

There are up to 350 spaces available for the April 24 event, which will also give cycling clubs the chance to promote themselves.

Mr Winder said: "It is part of the Provident deal we have got, to attract new people to the game. Provident have bought 10,000 tickets for the season."

Anyone interested in taking part in the cycling event at Odsal can contact laurabethjaggar@bradfordbulls.co.uk or ring 01274 729728.

Find Bradford Cycle Club on social media website Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/BradfordCycleClub/.