Thousands of volunteers are gearing up for the ride of their life after being selected as the first ever Tour Makers for the UK-leg of the 2014 Tour de France.

Tour Makers will operate as the volunteer force to welcome millions of visitors when the Tour de France's Grand Départ begins with two stages in Yorkshire on 5-6 July, followed by a third stage from Cambridge to London on 7 July.

Official applications have now been completed and almost 12,000 people have been named as successful applicants who will become Tour Makers for the duration of the UK leg of the tour.

The next step for volunteers is to complete an online event training module before attending motivational training and uniform collection days in May and June.

Tour Maker roles include wayfinders at transport hubs, route marshals, flag marshals and crossing marshals along the route. Volunteers will be allocated roles by the TDFHub2014, which is delivering the Tour Maker programme.

“The team look forward to working with them and getting to know them over the next few months as they go through the training process,” said Nicky Roche, chief executive of TDFHub2014. “The standard of applications was incredibly high, and I know that come July we will have a team of incredible, talented Tour Makers ready to welcome the world to Tour de France in the UK.”