Back le Bid. We’re big fans of cycling here at Network Marketing Towers with our very own TeeJay Jones having completed the Manchester 100 in 2012 and picking up some lovely injuries on the way! For those that are faint hearted look away now...

So, we're really very excited by the news that the Tour de France is coming to the UK. Following a fantastic campaign by Welcome to Yorkshire, it was announced in January that "Le Grand Depart" will happen in gods own county of Yorkshire. Welcome to Yorkshire started off the campaign as the underdog facing stiff competition from Barcelona, Berlin, Florence and Edinburgh.  It’s arrival in the UK will help put Yorkshire and the North of England on the world map, showcasing the region to the worldwide Tour de France audience. For those of you who didn't see it (and there can't be many...) it was a prolonged marketing and PR campaign called ‘Back Le Bid’ headed by Welcome to Yorkshire’s chief executive Gary Verity. Hear him talking here. http://youtu.be/h5lujplLmxg Tactics included producing a beautiful promotional film highlighting the dramatic Yorkshire landscape and attendance in person at events including the annual Tour de France presentation in Paris last year. Despite British Cycling officially supporting Edinburgh (booo!), many cyclists including Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish publicly backed Yorkshire’s bid (yeah!). This quote from Gary Verity shows how important the cyclists’ support was. "We were at the drinks party (unusual for Gary..-Ed) after the final stages of the Tour de France in Paris and I got introduced to Christian Prudhomme (Tour de France Director General) and he said to me: 'Oh, we had bids from Scotland and from this region and that region but then I see on your presentation video Mark Cavendish and how you got him to back Yorkshire.' At that stage I realised Yorkshire was in with a very good chance."

Mark Cavendish was particularly supportive of the Bid, ""My Mum is from Yorkshire so I'm proud to be backing the Yorkshire 2016 bid! The county would provide a stunning backdrop to the Tour as well as a real test for the competitors, I have fond memories of holidaying in Yorkshire, a lot of my family still live there and it would be fantastic if the world's greatest cycle race could come to Yorkshire, I'm sure it would host a stunning Grand Départ." The Welcome to Yorkshire Team put a lot of effort into showing the best of the region to the French delegates, including flying them by helicopter to the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks and then landing at Harewood House near Leeds. They also stopped off at Gary Verity’s farm in the Yorkshire Dales. It was the combination of creating strong local support, relationship building and innovate PR, along with the stunning terrain that helped to make this campaign a success. And of course some real Yorkshire Grit - well done to all at Welcome to Yorkshire and to Gary (pray for some sunshine!!).