ANOTHER coup for Yorkshire is the Tour de France. Tourism chief Gary Verity says our Grand Départ will be the best ever and should attract more than two million spectators, 180,000 of them to York.

But you don’t have to wait for July to get in the mood, because for the first time, a 100-day cultural festival will run prior to and alongside the Tour.

Beginning on March 27, organisers say it will offer Yorkshire a unique and exceptional opportunity for its arts, cultural organisations, and artists to be showcased on a scale that has not been seen in the region before.

The first specially commissioned events have just been announced and include taking brass music to locations along the race route as well as a play featuring cycling tales from ordinary people in Yorkshire.

It sounds like exciting stuff and, like the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire, this festival will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We can’t wait for it all to start.