IT may have been the first Tour de Yorkshire; it certainly won’t be the last.

There were those who were worried before this weekend just how much appetite there would be for another major cycle race in Yorkshire less than a year after the Tour de France. They needn’t have been.

From the moment the race left Bridlington on Friday, cheered on by thousands of well-wishers, it was clear this was going to be a brilliant event.

At every twist and turn of the route, up on to the Moors and along the North Yorkshire coast on day one; looping through the Wolds and doing a double circuit around York on day two; heading across to West Yorkshire for day three, the roads were lined with cheering crowds.

The clouds may have stayed resolutely grey, but York was in the mood to party as the Tour arrived in the city at the close of day two – and the partying continued long after the race itself had finished at the Knavesmire.

It was Lars Petter Nordhaug, of Team Sky, who will go down in the record books as the winner of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire.

But the real winner was the White Rose county itself and this event gave us the chance to show off to the world yet again. Here’s to next year.