IT'S undoubtedly a sign of the times. A plethora of signs have shot up all over the area to point the way, direct the masses and inform all about the UCI World Cycling Championships. It is a real feather in the cap event for Yorkshire so rightly it's worth shouting about it. However Spectator thinks a sign tsar may have to be appointed. It's not just directions and information about the event. There are many road closure signs dottted around along the route where work has been done to make the roads as smooth as a babies whatever to make sure the cyclists can compete on a level playing field.

This is in many ways good for the locals, they'll inherit the silky roadways once the bikers have been and gone. But the signs are causing confusion, in just one case along the Masham Road route out of Bedale four road closed signs are still there, while some say road closed for three weeks from 5/08/19 others simply say road ahead closed. During the resurfacing works Spectator has been told it was worrying enough not knowing whether it was or it wasn't and for the workers trying to do their job the road closures were a source of discontent as some confused drivers pushed their luck and tried to dodge round.

So it looks like a clean sweep is in order, and as the Championships start in earnest on September 22 it makes sense to get anything on the side of the road that really shouldn't be there off the side of the road.

North Yorkshire highways could be forgiven for looking forward to the end of the road as far as this summer is concerned. A global road race coming on top of the worst floods this century in parts of the Dales has piled on the pressure. But they seem geared up, it's just a questions of direction and sign sorting.