A COMPETITION has been launched to give a lucky winner the chance to win four tickets to the exciting finale of the Tour of Britain.

Britain’s biggest cycling race comes to Oldham on Saturday, September 14, with a world class field of riders set to pass through Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton, as the eight-day tour reaches an exciting conclusion with a 166km stage around Greater Manchester.

It’s set to be a spectacular event for the borough, and for Greater Manchester as a whole, with a dramatic conclusion taking place on Manchester’s Deansgate.

To mark the occasion – and to help launch a new Facebook event which will be the prime spot to get live, up-to-date information about the race over the coming weeks – Oldham Council is launching a competition for one person to win four tickets to be in the VIP area at the final of the race on Deansgate.

All entrants have to do is go to the Facebook event and click to say that you are “going”. The event is listed on the council’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/loveoldham. The deadline is Sunday, September 1.

Everyone who says they are “going” will be entered into a random draw for the tickets and the winner will be informed via Facebook Messenger.

Cllr Zahid Chauhan, Oldham Council cabinet member for health and social care, said: “This is a world class sporting event that is coming to the roads of Oldham featuring some of the world’s top cyclists.

“We have a rich history of sporting achievement in Oldham with England and Great Britain captains, internationals and Olympians in a huge range of sports so I hope this will be the type of exciting event that will inspire the next generation.

“We’re hoping the people of Oldham will be out in force to support the event so, to promote the event we’ll be writing to all residents and businesses along the route this week as well as promoting a range of coverage, information and videos across all of our usual channels and via our partners in the media.

“If you want to stay in touch with the latest up-to-date information on everything from riders, teams and times to maps, videos and things to do on the day, I would urge people to visit the council’s Facebook page and stay tuned to your favourite local news sources.”

To ensure rider, resident and pedestrian safety during the race, parking restrictions will be in place along the route of the race between 10pm on Friday, September 13 until 2pm on Saturday, September 14.

A rolling road block will be in operation on the day (September 14) and may cause delays between noon and 2pm.

Every address on the route will receive a letter from Oldham Council, setting out traffic and parking arrangements and a range of other information as well as a leaflet from Tour of Britain organisers a week or so before it takes place.

To stay up-to-date with all the latest information, including updates to traffic arrangements, and if you have any questions, please visit the council’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/loveoldham.

You can use the event that has been set up on the page to promote any local events that are being organised to mark the occasion.

If you don’t have Facebook – or simply would prefer to visit a website – go to www.tourofbritain.co.uk or for more local information, visit www.oldham.gov.uk/tourofbritain.

If you don’t have access to the internet, computers are available at all Oldham Libraries.