THE Cow and Calf has made it on to the shortlist of the Tour de Yorkshire Best Dressed competition.

The competition seeks to reward the people and places that went the extra mile to honour the race’s passing.

This is the first year that Welcome to Yorkshire have run the Best Dressed competition, in partnership with the Yorkshire Post, and the four categories are: Best Dressed Town, Best Dressed Village, Best Host Location and Spirit of le Tour.

Nominations have been collected since the start of April and the entries have now been whittled down to the following:

Best Dressed Host Location: The Piece Hall, Halifax; The Market Place, Richmond; The Cow and Calf, Ilkley; North Bay, Scarborough.

Best Dressed Town: Hebden Bridge; Helmsley; Garforth; Pateley Bridge; Thirsk; Hornsea; Howden; Filey; Penistone.

Best Dressed Village: Patrick Brompton; Elsecar; Ackworth; Kippax; Sutton under Whitestonecliffe; Seaton.

Spirit of le Tour: Claire Fenby, Filey; Malcolm Richardson, Kirkbymoorside; Sam Whitley, Garforth.

The deadline for voting is midnight on Friday, June 22 and once the numbers have been counted and verified, Sir Gary Verity and James Mitchinson will present each winner with a commemorative plaque to honour their achievement.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “We are delighted and not surprised that Ilkley’s beautiful Cow and Calf has been shortlisted in the Best Dressed Host Location category in this competition.

“Who can forget the amazing scenes of the crowds lining the roads through the town centre to the Cow and Calf which were broadcast around the world when the Tour de Yorkshire came to the district? The stunning sight of the huge Yorkshire flag on the rocks, which was put in place by staff from the Council’s Community Play and Activities Development Service, welcoming spectators and riders really helped to set the scene.

“A lot of hard work by volunteers and council staff alike went into decorating the district, so I would urge everyone to go on the website and vote for Ilkley’s Cow and Calf Rocks for this award."

Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “The Best Dressed competition is our way of recognising all those people, businesses and community groups along the route that helped make this year’s Tour de Yorkshire the most eye-catching, colourful and vibrant edition yet.

“Seeing the effort people put in to celebrate the race was truly heart-warming and we were overwhelmed by the number of entries received in this first year. It was a difficult task compiling the shortlist for each category and now it’s over to you to choose your favourites.”

Vote at letouryorkshire.com/bestdressed