It might have felt like it whizzed by in seconds, but in its wake last Saturday's Tour of Britain visit is reported to have delivered a £3.5m boom for Gloucestershire.

This year's seventh and penultimate stage of the hugely popular date on the world's cycling calendar covered more than 106 miles of Gloucestershire roads, with the starting gun fired in the medieval market town of Tewkesbury and the climactic finish ending amid Gloucester's Southgate Street and the splendour of the city's historic docks.

In all, the route took in Bishops Cleeve, Winchcombe, Cirencester, Tetbury, Chipping Sodbury, Yate (which lies just across the border in South Gloucestershire), Wotton-under-Edge, Dursley, and Stroud.

More than 100 of the world's best riders went head to head for the event, which gathered a national and international audience thanks to live coverage on ITV4 and Eurosport.

A spoke-sman for Gloucestershire County Council said: "The race showed off the county to the world, brought lots of people into the county and encourages more tourists to visit the area.

"The county council is committed to supporting and encouraging cycling across the county and is currently building a 26-mile cycle spine from Stroud to Bishop's Cleeve, linking Gloucester and Cheltenham.

By its calculations, the net benefit in terms of publicity and the platform that the event gave for the county will amount to £3.5m.

Cllr David Gray, Cabinet member responsible for the environment at Gloucestershire County Council, said: "The Tour of Britain coming to Gloucestershire was a fantastic moment for our county and showed off everything that is good about our home."

He added: "Bringing world-class cyclists to our county plays an important role in inspiring people to get on their bikes and bringing new tourists to Gloucestershire. It is part of our on-going support for cycling, as well as the cycle spine that we are currently building will make getting on your bike more accessible for our residents."