Holdsworth Pro Cycling returns to competitive action in the Tour de Yorkshire after a 40-year break.

Holdsworth’s distinctive blue and orange colours will be seen on the tarmac once again and will lead the local charge in a team that is now based out of Yorkshire.

Holdsworth will be led by former Team Sky rider Russ Downing and will also see young Yorkshire rider Jake Womersley, of Mirfield, compete in his own back yard.

Womersley, 22, is the grandson of British cycling great Brian Robinson, also born in Mirfield, whilst Dean Downing brings his experience to the team as sports director and performance coach.

“It’s our first Tour de Yorkshire as a team,” said Rotherham-born Dean Downing. “The Holdsworth Pro team is a new team for 2018, we’re very excited, we’re very nervous!

“It’s great that we’ve had an invite to the Tour de Yorkshire, we’ve been doing all the logistics, the riders have been training hard and it’s not long to go now so we can’t wait to get into it.

“The Holdsworth name originates from Putney 40 years ago but over that time the name has disappeared from the cycling world, but a Yorkshire brand has brought it back and it’s now very much based around here.”

Yorkshire Bank is an official partner of the Tour de Yorkshire this year and will be sponsoring the leader’s jersey in partnership with the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries.

Downing added: “We’d hope to challenge for the Yorkshire Bank leaders jersey.

“We’re not as big as the world tour teams so we have ambitions, we’ve got riders who’ll be in the general classification, it’s a big ask for our riders but we do have ambitions to be in the breakaways and some of the sprints.

“We’ll have a great race and we’ll get stuck in.

“When we get to the start line we should be all very proud of what we’re going to put together, it’s going to be a great four days for sure.”

Downing was speaking from a Yorkshire Bank Bike Library in Beeston Park, Leeds, which is part of a scheme to encourage cycling in Yorkshire by providing access to reconditioned bikes.

The initiative has far created more than 50,000 cycling opportunities and aims to give every child in Yorkshire access to a bike.

“Now that it’s a few years old, the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries scheme, it’s flying along and over 5,000 bikes have been reconditioned now, there’s all different types of bike libraries across the county and it’s very impressive.

“Kids come here to ride or they get the bikes from the library here, it’s a fantastic scheme.

“Since the Tour de France coming here in 2014 this has come off the back of that, it has made cycling a lot more popular across the ages.”

Dean Downing from Holdsworth Pro Cycling was speaking at a Yorkshire Bank Bike Library in Leeds. For more information on Yorkshire Bank Bike libraries please visit www.ybonline.co.uk/bikelibraries