Sprotbrough gets the race re-routed through the village, but loses its yellow bike soon afterwards

Hands off our yellow bike, says Yorkshire village

The people of Sprotbrough, South Yorkshire, have had their yellow bike stolen shortly after securing a re-routing of the Tour de Yorkshire through their village (as reported by The Star).

The yellow bikes first came to the county in a big way to mark Tour de France Grand Depart of 2014 – although one Leeds waste management company blasted the eyecatching bikes as "litter" just a few months after the race had its memorable launch in Yorkshire.

The Tour de Yorkshire launched as a legacy of Le Tour and the good folk of Sprotbrough managed to get the organisers to change the route of this year’s edition (on April 30th) through the village (Doncaster Free Press).

Sadly, Sprotbrough’s yellow bike – which is purely decorative and is unrideable – was snatched yesterday morning (Tuesday). Read the full story here.

The economic impact of the famous race and its off-shoot on the region numbers well into the millions. One canny bike retailer released a "reet handy" phrase guide for Le Tour’s Yorkshire visit. 

Cyclingnews.com is reporting there there are calls to make the race four days.

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