A CYCLIST has died after suffering serious injuries while riding a treacherous section of the Yorkshire Dales Tour de France route.

The man in his fifties, from Middlesbrough, was found lying in the road by a passing motorist with serious injuries 200 metres from the summit of the Buttertubs Pass, between Hawes and Muker, at 11.40am on Sunday.

He was taken to James Cook Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he died on Monday.

North Yorkshire Police said the cyclist had been travelling from Hawes to Muker, had been wearing a white helmet, fluorescent yellow t-shirt and dark coloured shorts and was riding a silver Canyon pedal cycle.

Detectives said they were attempting to piece together the circumstances that led to him falling from his cycle.

A police spokesman said: "It would have taken the cyclist a while to reach Buttertubs’ summit and there must have been a number of vehicles or other cyclists who passed him."

The incident follows a number of cyclists crashing on the pass with a maximum gradient of 20 per cent, including one in 2014 when a rider was catapulted over a crash barrier at the top of the summit, landing just short of a 100ft drop.

The incident prompted a warning to the unprecedented numbers of cyclists tracing the Tour de France route through the Yorkshire Dales to take extra care.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or email MCIT@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk