THE Tour de France is being honoured at the country’s biggest agricultural event – in the form of a battle of the cheeses.

Cheesemakers from France and Yorkshire are being invited to compete in a fun new class at the 156th Great Yorkshire Show, which runs from July 8 to 10 in Harrogate.

Judy Bell, chief steward for the event’s Cheese and Dairy Show said: “In celebration of this year’s Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire, we are inviting French and Yorkshire cheesemakers to go ‘wheel to wheel’ in search of the ultimate cheese.

“This is obviously very topical and we’ve attracted a good number of entries. We hope it will be a new, fun element to the show which everyone will enjoy.”

The new class is one of almost 150 classes in the popular section, which has attracted entries from across the UK and Europe including Greece, Spain, France, Italy and Holland.