Thousands take to the Piece Hall as the Tour de Yorkshire gets underway

They rushed to see some of cycling's biggest names - including four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome - depart the building before snaking through the streets of Halifax on their way to the finishing line in Leeds at around 4.20pm.

The race was broadcast live in national television. Anneliese Gray, business services manager for Halifax Tourist Information Centre, described how important the event is for the town.

"It's massively important," she said, "people see it on the TV and come here, they come back and visit us again.

"It's great for the town, it's a great atmosphere and whether you like cycling or not, people seem to absolutely love it. Everybody gets involved!

"It does have repercussions later on. People do visit us off the back of this that might not ordinarily visit little old Halifax. It's great."

Among the visitors was 80-year-old cycling enthusiast Richard, who travelled from High Wycombe to stay with Calderdale-based family and enjoy the fun.

He said: "We like the area. My son moved up here a year ago and showed us the Piece Hall, which we think is great.

"And when we heard that the Tour de Yorkshire was starting here we thought, 'wow, we can't miss it!'. It's great for the area."

His son's partner Nicky said: "We have people come from all over the world and the first thing we do is show them the Piece Hall.

"It's fabulous and we're very proud to have it in our hometown."