Editor’s Comment: Our district was the true winner of Tour de France

Figures released this week show that the Harrogate district benefited from the race to the tune of £19.2million.

Overall, the Tour de France was worth more than £100million to the Yorkshire economy.

And the legacy of the race is that the county will get a further £24million of benefit over the next two years.

Among this huge success are small pockets of dissatisfaction. Some more outlying businesses reported a neutral effect from the Tour de France, with visitor numbers less than expected in their area.

Undoubtedly the town centres were the hubs for spectators, with Harrogate alone seeing 100,000 people on the streets.

But the huge majority enjoyed a major boost to their business, and were thrilled with the outcome.

Overall, this district enjoyed a 20 per cent share of the total benefit.

So it’s fair to conclude that looking back on that most memorable of weekends last July, the Harrogate district has emerged as the biggest winner in the whole of Yorkshire.