2014 Tour de France will start in England's Leeds

PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 24: (l to r) Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Mark Cavendish, Philippe Gilbert, Tejay van Garderen, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador pose during the 2013 Tour de France Route Presentation at the Palais des Congres de Paris on October 24, 2012 in Paris, France.

London, Dec 15 – England‘s Yorkshire city of Leeds will host the start of the 2014 Tour de France, it was announced.

The Tour, which last visited Britain in 2007, will head through Yorkshire 5 and 6 July, before moving south for a third stage, finishing in London, reports Xinhua.

Yorkshire beat off the challenge of bids from Florence and Edinburgh to host the prestigious cycling event.

It will be the fourth time the Tour has visited Britain after previous visits in 1974 and 1994.

Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, hosted the 2010 Grand Depart, while the 2012 race started in Liege in Belgium and next year’s 100th race will begin in Corsica.