Image 1 of 5 Gary Verity was given a welcome recepetion (Image credit: SWpix.com) Image 2 of 5 Gary Verity from Yorkshire hands over the depart duties to Utrecht major Jan Van Zanden (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 5 The races along the Yorkshire landscape (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 4 of 5 The peloton ride during Stage 1 of the Tour of Yorkshire from Bridlington to Scarborough Image 5 of 5 Cobblestone street through the village of Haworth during stage 3 Tour de Yorkshire

Tour de Yorkshire organiser Gary Verity confirmed that he has began discussions with British Cycling about a joint bid for the UCI Road World Championships.

Any bid for a future road Worlds needs the backing of the national federation and after a hugely successful first edition of the Tour de Yorkshire, Verity confirmed that he had already opened a dialogue with British Cycling over a potential bid.

“We’ve started those discussions but from our point of view we would love to have the World Championships in Yorkshire. It’s an obvious thing and I think the World Championships would love to come to Yorkshire. We have all the ingredients for it,” Verity said at the finish of stage 3 in Yorkshire.

Verity stressed that no date had been agreed upon during the discussions but after the Tour de France Grand Depart and the first running of his flagship Tour de Yorkshire event, Verity outlined the process by which he and his organisation must comply with. Verity already confirmed before the Tour Yorkshire that he had plans to improve the race to WorldTour status within the coming years and he was coy on the potential of adding more days to the race in the future.

“The process for a World Championships are that we would have to have the backing of British Cycling in a combined bid. So British Cycling need to decide if they want to back a bid for the World Championships in the United Kingdom, firstly and then whether Yorkshire would be the partner for them or if they would want to put it in another part of the country,” Verity added.

And in Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, Verity has at the very least a strong ally. The Tour boss has been hugely supportive of Yorkshire’s appetite for cycling races and has been a guest throughout the Tour de Yorkshire, a race that is co-organised and endorsed by Prudhomme’s employer, ASO.

“I’m the director of the Tour,” joked Prudhomme when asked if he would support a Yorkshire bid for the Worlds, before adding, “Yorkshire is made for cycling. You can imagine anything and everything for cycling here but not only for champions, but cycling for everybody."

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