'Plan ahead' plea from Northern as weekend of elite cycling arrives in Yorkshire

Northern is expecting thousands of people to travel to – and around – the county throughout the weekend with racing taking place between Bradford and Harrogate on Saturday, and Leeds and Harrogate on Sunday.

And the train operator is calling on all race-goers to plan ahead as all rail services are expected to be extremely busy.

Steve Hopkinson, Regional Director at Northern, said: “The men’s and women’s elite road races are the main event of these championships and we expect to see thousands of people taking to the railway to travel to and from the races.

“We will be putting on extra services and extra carriages between Leeds and Harrogate to help get fans where they need to be, but I’m calling on fans to help by planning ahead, travelling via Leeds where possible and showing a little extra patience.”

As well as the two elite races Harrogate will play host to a number of other fan events – including evening concerts on Friday and Saturday – which could see many people looking to head out of the town at the same time.

Steve added: “We’ll have a queueing system in place at Harrogate to keep people flowing through the station and on to trains, but it may take longer than usual to get onto the platforms. Our customers, therefore, need to familiarise themselves with the timetables, allow extra time for travel and be patient with staff and fellow rail travellers.”

• Northern’s timetables and further information about travel to and from Harrogate can be found here.
• Information about the races, including start/finish times and routes can be found on the UCI Road World Championship website.