OLYMPIC gold medallist Joanna Rowsell and Paralympic champion Dame Sarah Storey will be two of the leading lights in the inaugural Women’s Tour de Yorkshire, which will take place next month.

A field of more than 100 riders has been confirmed for the one-day event on Saturday, May 2, which will form part of the wider Tour de Yorkshire weekend.

Storey and Rowsell will be joined by Commonwealth Games heroine Katie Archibald in a strong Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International team that also features Gabriella Shaw, Clemence Copie, Lauren Creamer, Katie Curtis and Bethany Hayward.

Matrix Fitness have also entered a strong team which includes Yorkshire-born riders Jessie Walker and Penny Rowson.

Other riders include Grace Garner and Nicola Juniper in the Giordana Triton team, and 2014 National Circuit race champion Eileen Roe and Amy Roberts, who will be racing for Wiggle Honda.

The Women’s Tour de Yorkshire will be held over four laps of a 20km circuit around York, and use the same infrastructure that will be used for the second stage of the men’s race later the same afternoon.

The race will start at 10.30am, with British Cycling licensed riders in elite, first, second and third categories involved. There will also be a women’s only mass participation cycle ride – the Cycletta – on Sunday, May 3.