RESIDENTS and businesses are preparing themselves as Yorkshire gears up to host the 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships - the cycling equivalent of the world cup.

The nine day event, beginning on Sunday, September 22, will be based in Harrogate, but with two of the races, on Thursday, September 26 and on Sunday, September 29, passing through Craven, including Skipton town centre.

Road races will start from different towns across the county, with each day’s racing finishing in Harrogate.

The men’s junior road race on September 26, will travel from Richmond, through Leyburn and Aysgarth, and into Craven over Kidstones at around 1.10pm.

It will then pass through Cray, Buckden, Starbotton, Kettlewell, Kilnsey and Threshfield before heading off through Burnsall, Barden and Bolton Abbey, then along the A59 towards Harrogate.

Meanwhile, the men’s elite road race on September 29 starts in Leeds and will head through Otley and Ilkley on the A65 before entering Skipton, along Otley Road, between about 9.40am and 9.45am.

The race will pass along Newmarket Street before travelling up Skipton High Street and out of the town, up Grassington Road.

Cyclists will then follow the route of the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014, going up past Rylstone, Cracoe, Threshfield, Kilnsey, Kettlewell, Starbotton and Buckden before heading up over Kidstones and down into Wensleydale.

There will be rolling road closures, placed along the routes about two hours before the first rider is due, with dedicated vehicle crossing points at selected locations open until about 30 minutes before the first rider. The roads will be reopened as soon as it is safe to do so after the last rider has passed through.

The event will see around 1,400 athletes from 90 different countries arrive in the region, along with support teams, journalists and other visitors from across the UK and overseas.

It is also expected to be viewed by an additional 250 million television viewers worldwide.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Highways, said: “To be given the opportunity to host a major sporting and spectator event is a great honour for Harrogate and for North Yorkshire. The UCI Road World Championships are a once-in-a-generation occasion, which will introduce our county to a truly global audience.”

He added: “The council is aware that some residents will have understandable concerns about road closures. For that reason we have ensured that officers with great experience of such events are working to ensure that everything runs smoothly with minimum disruption to our daily lives.”