COTSWOLD District Council is supporting plans to bring the Tour of Britain cycle event to the area in September.

At a meeting today, the CDC cabinet agreed to contribute £10,000 to a bid for a Saturday stage of the race which would pass through the Cotswolds, parts of Tewkesbury Borough and finish in Cheltenham.

Lynden Stowe, leader of CDC, said: “The Tour of Britain is this country’s premier cycling event and attracts over a million spectators at the roadside and hundreds of thousands more following via television and online around the world.

“I am sure that local residents would be thrilled to see world-class cyclists up close.

“Additionally, being part of the event could attract a lot of visitors who have not previously sampled the hospitality and attractions of the Cotswolds.

“This is also an ideal opportunity to promote the advantages of cycling as a mode of transport.

“The Cotswolds has many attractive routes which encourage people to ride bikes and the health benefits are self-evident.”

The modern Tour of Britain celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2013, having returned to the sport calendar in 2004 after a five-year absence, and quickly re-establishing itself as the main cycling event in Britain and a cornerstone of the UK's sporting calendar.

The dates for the 2017 Tour have been confirmed as Sunday, September 3 to Sunday, September 10, with the Saturday stage taking place on September 9.

The 2016 Tour featured 21 world-class teams, each fielding a six-rider line-up to make a field of 126 of the very best professional cyclists from around the world.

11 of the teams were from the very top Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI )World Team level, and there were six domestic UCI Continental teams plus the Great Britain national team.

The tour was broadcast on ITV4, with three hours of live coverage each day, plus an hour's highlights programme every evening.