ORGANISERS are hoping they can bring the Halfords Tour Series cycle race back to the centre of Oxford for a second year after a successful debut.

Hundreds of competitors and supporters descended on the city yesterday for a day of road racing in the sunshine.

Cycle enthusiasts lined St Giles’ to cheer riders on, with traffic diverted throughout the day.

Hugh Roberts, chief executive of the Halfords Tour Series, said: “Generally speaking it has been a great success and next year, if we came back, we would expect much greater crowds.

“It was Oxford who approached us and asked what it would take to bring a tour series to Oxford.

“Oxford is a perfect type of city for us – it’s a place with an enormous amount of history and architecture and lends itself to putting on this type of event.”

Organisers will meet with city and county council representatives in the coming weeks to evaluate the event’s success, but Mr Roberts is confident Oxford has benefited from playing host to the tour.

He said: “The economic impact is not inconsiderable and there’s a strong media value. We would definitely like to see the tour come back to Oxford.”

The Varsity race, which saw Cambridge beat the Oxford University team, was a special addition to the 11-day series.

Cambridge PhD student 26-year-old Wojciech Szlachta, the Varsity race winner, said: “We had some tactics to go together in the group with as many Cambridge guys as possible, to force Oxford to chase. When the top three of us went, it was a perfect situation.”

Earlier in the day Oxfordshire school children also raced the 1.4km circuit with Barney Hodder Williams, of Matthew Arnold School and Amy Leach of Didcot Girls’ School named the winners of the boys’ and girls’ races.

Later more than 100 elite male and female riders competed in the headline event with Olympic gold medalist Ed Clancy among the pack.

Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for transport Rodney Rose said the event sent out the right message about Oxford and promoted the health benefits of the sport.

Mr Rose said: “Part of the our transport policy is to enhance cycling in Oxford city and anything like this helps.

“I think anything like this, if it gets national profile, always enhances business and it brings people to stop in hotels and eat in restaurants.”

The event is due to be televised at 8pm on ITV4 tonight.