Helicopter heroes had their busiest weekend on record during Le Tour Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) used both its helicopters and drafted in a third aircraft to help deal with the millions of extra visitors to the region.

And the paramedic crews found themselves called to several incidents involving cyclists, fortunately none of them were involved in the official race.

The emergency rapid response charity attended ten incidents on Friday and a further 21 over the Saturday and Sunday.

On a normal weekend, YAA may respond to three or four call-outs.

YAA Spokeswoman, Abby McClymont said: “We knew that we were in for a busy few days with the excitement of the Tour de France coming to the region.

“We have had many busy weekends over the past 14 years, but nothing as busy as this last one has been.

“We were called to a few people who had been out cycling on the route, or were on their way to watch the race and unfortunately found themselves needing the air ambulance.

“Other incidents included spectators who developed health problems whilst waiting for the race to go past.

“However, generally, we attended the same kind of jobs we would usually do, but just in a greater volume due to the vastly increased number of people in the region over the weekend.”

The YAA’s two helicopters operated from their airbases on the Nostell Estate near Wakefield and at RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk.

The third helicopter was operational from stand-by points close to the route – at Wathgill Camp near Richmond and Beeston Hall Farm, near Ripponden.

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