Britain’s first Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins picked up the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award last night (16 December) at a ceremony at Excel London.
The venue welcomed 16,000 guests to an arena where the likes of Nicola Adams and Luke Campbell won their medals in the summer.
Excel London Executive Director James Mark said the night went “extremely well – without a hitch”. Three thousand of the guests attended an after party in the Capital Hall.
“One highlight,” Mark tells CN, “was when Wiggo got up on stage with the band at the after party (about 1am) took the guitar and played That’s Entertainment followed by Wonderwall with them – the crowd went wild.”
Last week Yorkshire announced it had won its bid to host the Grand Départ of theTour de France. A stage finish is also scheduled to take place in London.
The Tour de France will start in Leeds in July 2014, with the ‘Grand Depart’, thanks to a campaign led by tourism agency Welcome to York. The agency said the Tour would bring in at least £100m to the region and attract 1m spectators.
VisitEngland’s Chief Executive James Berresford said it was a fantastic opportunity for Yorkshire to showcase itself to the world.
“We look forward to working with Welcome to Yorkshire and their partners as well as the other areas of England which will host the Tour’s stages to make this a huge success for the whole country,” he said.
“We’ve shown this year that England can host the most prestigious sporting events in the world with warmth and panache,” Berresford added. “In 2014 we have another opportunity with the Tour De France and again in 2015 with the Rugby World Cup. Sport runs through the very fabric of this country and is an incredibly powerful tool to encourage visitors.”
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