Portsmouth bid to host 2018 Tour de France

Portsmouth city leaders are preparing a bid to host a stage of the 2018 Tour de France, according to a report in local paper The News.

Councillor Donna Jones, leader of Portsmouth City Council, told The News that the council is working on a joint bid together with Brittany Ferries and Portsmouth's twin city of Caen in France.

"It would bring millions to Portsmouth and project images of Portsmouth around the world," Cllr Jones told The News. "It will reinforce confidence that Portsmouth is a changing place that's aiming really high and has high aspirations for itself.

"What we need to be doing is sending a message to local businesses and any business thinking of relocating that Portsmouth is the place to be."

The bid follows from last year's hugely successful hosting of the Grand Départ in Yorkshire, which brought a significant financial boost to the local economy as thousands of cycling fans flocked to line the routes of each stage. Yorkshire is still reaping the legacy of the Tour, with a new three-day Tour de Yorkshire race and sportive planned for this year.

Cllr Jones said: "I would expect given the success of the Tour de France that visitor numbers would be higher on the south coast as we are only a few hours away from France.

"I would expect the boost to the local economy would be well in excess of £100m."

The Tour de France has visited Portsmouth before in 1994. Mike Bevens, group commercial director at Brittany Ferries, said: ''Brittany Ferries has a long association of working with this iconic race; when it last came to Portsmouth in 1994 we had the honour of being the official sea carrier.

"We've enjoyed positive early discussions with Portsmouth City Council regarding working together and the feasibility of bringing the Tour de France to Portsmouth.

"We are looking forward to taking these discussions further and assessing the viability of this project."

The next stage of the process will see the bid partners meet to work out a detailed business case to present to the Tour organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). If all goes to plan, ASO would visit Portsmouth to consider the proposed route and financial details before making a decision.

Roger De Vere, secretary of local cycling club Fareham Wheelers, welcomed the proposal. "We would be over the moon," he told The News. "Quite a few of our members go across to France to the various stages and lots went up to Yorkshire last year."

"Being a spectator is quite something,' he added. "There's just incredible excitement. The whole thing is electrifying."