A COLOURFUL convoy of vehicles will help the UCI Road World Championships make their mark on Yorkshire next month.

With one month to go until the big event hits the region, Yorkshire 2019 has announced there will be a publicity caravan for the first time in the event's 98-year history.

The caravan will feature on the Women’s and Men’s Elite Road Races which take place on Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29 respectively.

The flotilla will travel the full route of the women’s race, which sees the riders roll out of Bradford at 11.40am, and pick up the men’s race in Reeth.

Reeth was chosen especially as a way of recognising the resolve and spirit shown in the wake of the severe floods which ravaged parts of Yorkshire last month.

Yorkshire 2019 CEO Andy Hindley said: “We want to make the 2019 UCI Road World Championships the most inspiring, inclusive and innovative edition in the event’s history – and organising the first-ever publicity caravan at a Championships is another way of doing that.

“They are a fun and light-hearted way to get fans excited before the riders arrive, and they help build a real sense of occasion.

“We decided not the run the caravans for the entire length of the men’s race as we felt some people might not have appreciated this loud and vibrant procession passing through so early in the day.

“Reeth was the perfect place to start the caravan on the final day of action as it has endured such a tough time of it lately.

“We’ve got some amazing brands taking part in the caravan and it’ll be a brilliant spectacle not to be missed.”

Full details of when and where the caravan will stop will be announced in due course.

The UCI Road World Championships have only been held in Great Britain on three previous occasions, the most recent of which was at Goodwood in 1982.

The 2019 Championships will take place in Yorkshire between September 22 and 29.

The celebrations will begin on Saturday, September 21 when - for the very first time - a UCI-sanctioned, one-day international para-cycling event will take place ahead of the Championships. The Yorkshire 2019 Para-Cycling International will act as a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and welcome entries from every Paralympic road racing classification.

The Championships commence on the Sunday with the maiden Mixed Team Time Trial Relay and the programme continues through to Sunday, September 29 with Individual Time Trials and Road Races for Junior (17/18 years), Under 23 and Elite male and female riders.

Approximately 1,400 riders are set to compete from 90 countries and the action will be beamed to a global TV audience of over 250 million.