This year's Tour de Yorkshire is set to be the biggest yet, with 36 teams competing and a publicity caravan three times the size of the one which preceded the 2016 race, when two million spectators lined the roads of Yorkshire.

We’ve put together a guide to the best places to watch the world’s top cyclists pit themselves against the county’s terrain this Bank Holiday Weekend.

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

DAY ONE will see riders setting out from outside the art deco Bridlington Spa on the seafront, before heading out into rural North and East Yorkshire.

The 173km race from the coastal town of Bridlington to the town of Scarborough, takes in picturesque towns and villages and long, open stretches of the North Yorkshire Moors, before coming to a finish at Scarborough seafront.

Ahead of the cyclists will be the tour’s biggest ever publicity caravan, handing out freebies and keepsakes from specially decorated vehicles.

Behind the caravan will be Tour de Yorkshire ambassadors, including some of the legends of the sport, compered by one of Britain’s greatest former professional cyclists, Hugh Porter MBE.

The sprinters in the race will have a chance to breakaway with two sprint sections at Pocklington and Whitby.

The elite cyclists will also have to pit themselves against some tough climbs at Garrowby Hill in East Yorkshire, Goathland on the moors and finally the Cote de Robin Hood’s Bay.

This last climb has featured in the previous Tour de Yorkshire’s and usually results in some big splits in the field, as the long, 1.5km climb from Robin Hood’s Bay and through Fylingthorpe is the steepest of the three climbs, challenging the cyclists nearing the end of the day’s racing.

The race then arrives back on the seafront, coming to an end at Scarborough’s North Bay between 4pm and 4.30pm.

Timings:

• 10.35am. Caravan leaves South Marine Drive, Bridlington. Cyclists set off 11.45am.

• 1.10pm. Driffield

• 1.45pm. Pocklington

• 2pm. Cote de Garrowby Hill

• 2.30pm. Malton

• 3pm. Pickering

• 3.35pm. Cote de Goathland

• 3.55pm. Whitby

• 4.10pm. Cote de Robin Hood’s Bay

• 4.45pm. Scarborough. Royal Albert Drive. Approximately 4pm / 4.30pm

The Met Office have predicted temperatures of 8c or 9c, but conditions are likely to be clear and largely dry with some sunshine.

SATURDAY, APRIL 29

THE women’s race and Day Two of the men’s race will travel 122km from Tadcaster to Harrogate. Saturday’s race will see just one climb at Lofthouse, before the race makes its way into Hambleton, travelling through West Tanfield.

The women’s race begins with a ceremonial start at 9.10am at Tadcaster, before the race begins officially at 9.20am, with the men’s race setting off later in the afternoon at 2.10pm.

Last year the Tour de Yorkshire offered what at the time was record prize money for a women’s event anywhere in the world. This year the £50,000 prize money will be on offer again, along with full television coverage, in an event that is expected to raise the profile of women’s cycling and has attracted some of the top female riders. They are expected to arrive in Harrogate at 12.15pm.

The men’s race is expected to finish in the North Yorkshire spa town at approximately 4.50pm.

SUNDAY, APRIL 30

Many expect the third and final day of the tour, on Sunday, to be the real test, with riders facing 20 climbs totalling 3,500m as they make their way from Bradford to Sheffield. From Bradford they will make their way north to Grassington and Skipton before facing a series of gruelling climbs to Halifax and Sheffield.