The council is looking for sponsors to get involved in this year’s Tour of Britain, which will come to Cheshire East in September.

The event, which attracts thousands of spectators and is broadcast across the world, will see dozens of elite cyclists whizz through the borough to the finishing line at Tatton Park on September 6.

Following a successful bid by Cheshire East Council, the eight-day tour will pass through on stage three of the event, starting in Congleton and finishing at Tatton Park, and taking in a 10.5 kilometre climb up to the Cat and Fiddle pub in Macclesfield. Now the council is urging businesses to get involved and take advantage of the publicity and is offering a range of sponsorship packages.

Councillor David Brown, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, said: “This really is a massive opportunity not to be missed – by both residents and businesses alike. Around 18 per cent of stage visitors stay overnight in the area and each stage boosts the local economy by £4.1m, on average.

“This is great news for the whole Borough.

“I would encourage entrepreneurs to contact us and see how they can get involved in putting their business right at the heart of this fantastic, historic event with one of our specially-tailored sponsorship packages.”

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The council reckons around 180,000 people will watch a Tour of Britain stage, while the entire tour is beamed to 8.2 million British TV viewers and 129 countries worldwide, alongside widespread press coverage.

Packages range from the ‘ultimate’ – full stage sponsorship, at the forefront of the stage marketing and many add-on events for a business – to our ‘affiliate’ package, offering excellent opportunities for client hospitality.

Coun Paul Bates, Cabinet member for communities and health, said: “We hope that this event will inspire many others to take up cycling, whether for sport or leisure, and to visit and stay in our Borough and boost our visitor economy – which we aim to increase from £800m to more than £1bn a year by 2017.”

Interested businesses should ring the Council’s business connector Kerry Hall on 07816 144 384, or email our team at TOB@cheshireeast.gov.uk

For more information about the event go to www.cheshiretourofbritain.co.uk or visit the Council’s website at: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk

The map shows the route of Section Three of this year's Tour of Britain, which passes through Macclesfield and Wilmslow.