Yorkshire's Grand Depart could be immortalised in feature film

An initial approach has been made to the team who brought the event to the county – just as they pass the baton on to the Netherlands.

“It’s quite remarkable,” said Gary Verity, the chairman of tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire which led the county’s bid.

He said he had met with people who wanted to make the film – but stressed everything was still at an early stage.

“The first thing is for these people to go ahead and write the screenplay as these things take a long time, but we will see,” he said.

The possibility of a feature film emerged as a delegation from Welcome to Yorkshire flew to Paris for the annual international Tour de France press conference.

Members attended the Palais des Congrès event along with 5,000 journalists from around the world to celebrate the Yorkshire Grand Départ.

And the race organisers ASO paid tribute to the monumental success of the Yorkshire event earlier this summer.

"Unforgettable, momentous and unbelievable are all words we've been fortunate enough to hear describe the Yorkshire Grand Départ,” said Mr Verity.

“It makes the team at Welcome to Yorkshire feel incredibly proud.”

He added: “It seems like only yesterday we were in Paris telling the world about what Yorkshire had in store for the Tour.

“Now, a year on, we officially hand over to Utrecht for their Grand Départ and reflect on the historic event Yorkshire hosted that has not only written us into the history books as the grandest ever Grand Départ, but promoted the county of Yorkshire to the world on a scale never before achieved.”

While in Paris the tourism agency also held a series of meetings about the new Tour de Yorkshire international cycle race.

Recently added to the racing calendar for May 1 to 3 as part of the Europe Tour, the Tour de Yorkshire is set to be a major international race.

More information will be announced in late 2014 with full routes expected to be unveiled in early 2015.