A NORTH Yorkshire MP has called for Selby to play a major role in next year's Tour de Yorkshire.

The new three-day international cycle race for Yorkshire was announced following the success of the Tour de France across the region this summer, when major cycling teams from around the world visited the county.

A route has yet to be announced but there are plans to potentially include parts of the county that the Yorkshire Grand Départ didn’t visit.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, and Mark Crane, Selby District Council leader, have joined forces to appeal to Gary Verity at Welcome to Yorkshire to push for the Tour to visit the town, and showcase its Abbey and other highlights to the world.

Mr Adams said: "I’d love to see Selby involved with the Tour de Yorkshire. We could provide a great backdrop for a start or finish of a stage of the race and the exposure and publicity it would bring to the district could be phenomenal."

Councillor Crane said: "This would be great for Selby district if it was to come off and I would be keen to throw the Conservative-led council’s support behind a Selby District bid to get involved. The publicity and payback for the Grand Départ was superb and if we could achieve a fraction of that exposure for Selby, we should go for it."

The race will see three stages take place between May 1 and May 3 next year, and the full route is expected to be announced early next year. There is also an intention to have a women’s race and a mass participation sportive as part of the event, with full routes expected to be unveiled in early 2015.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "This new official international cycle race heralds the start of a world-class event for Yorkshire that we want to see grow over the coming years to become known the world over.

"We already have a huge amount of interest thanks to the Yorkshire Grand Départ, which captured the imagination of millions of people globally – and this race will be a fitting legacy. We’re confident that come May, we’ll deliver something very special."