ILKLEY has been crowned the Best Dressed Host Location in the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire Land Art and Best Dressed competition.

The winners were announced at a special event held at the Welcome to Yorkshire offices in Leeds on Thursday, July 19.

Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity DL unveiled the five lucky winners with James Mitchinson, editor of The Yorkshire Post who were media partners for both competitions.

Entries were submitted in the run up to the race before being shortlisted and put to a public vote on the Tour’s official website at letouryorkshire.com.

Thousands of votes were counted and Ilkley emerged as one of the winners.

The town was awash with colour as men’s and women’s pelotons flashed through on their approach to the Cow and Calf. Like every host location, the town pulled out all the stops to provide a brilliant backdrop for the race’s first-ever summit finish on stage two. Blue and yellow umbrellas hung from the trees and giant land art footprints were spread across the Wharfe Valley to guide the peloton home. Even a large anamorphic cow was painted onto the final ascent letting the riders know they were closing in on the finish line.

Best Dressed Host Location winner Saira Ali, representing Ilkley, said: “We’re absolutely chuffed to bits that Ilkley has been voted Best Dressed Host Location. It was a lot of work to get everything ready but definitely worth all the effort. It was a great experience to be able to bring different communities together and we’re fortunate so many people wanted to get involved. Schools, business and organisations all contributed so this was very much a team effort. We really enjoyed it and the day itself was one big party!”

Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity DL said: “It’s given me great pleasure to honour the fantastic people and locations that helped make this year’s Tour de Yorkshire the biggest and most colourful one yet. Every one of them went above and beyond the call of duty and put on a show for the 12.5 million people watching the race around the world.

“Our prize winners deserve special praise but we can’t forget all the other people, villages, towns and cities that went to great lengths to celebrate our race as well. It brought a lump to my throat as I drove the route this year with seemingly every inch of it covered in flags, banners and bunting. It’s that support which makes the Tour such a special event, and Yorkshire such a unique county.”

The Yorkshire Post Editor James Mitchinson said: “We’re proud to be associated with these competitions as they encompass the spirit of Yorkshire and honour those people who made the county look its best when the Tour de Yorkshire was beamed to 190 countries around the world. It was great to see what it meant to the people receiving these awards and we hope to be part of it for many years to come.”

Next year’s race is set to attract its strongest-ever field as the sport’s star riders look to visit the county in preparation for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships which take place in September.

Full information on the Tour de Yorkshire and Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race can be found at http://letouryorkshire.com