PLANS to bring the opening stages of the Tour de France to Yorkshire in 2016 would provide a huge economic boost to the county, officials have said.

It emerged over the weekend that advanced talks have been held between tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire and Tour de France organisers about holding the Grand Depart – the opening two days of the race – in Yorkshire.

The Grand Depart is held in a new location outside France every two years, and was last held in the UK in 2007 when thousands turned out to watch the teams in London and Kent.

Welcome to Yorkshire confirmed detailed talks have already taken place about a start to the 2016 Tour in Leeds city centre and a delegation has visited Paris.

The 22 teams would make their way to the Yorkshire Dales, head east to Scarborough and the coast, via York and the North York Moors, before heading south to Hull and finally to Sheffield.

More talks are due to take place next month and plans are under way for the Tour de France organisers to visit Yorkshire to see the proposed route.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity said a successful bid would bring tens of millions of pounds to the Yorkshire economy.

“In depth discussions are ongoing, but I can reveal Yorkshire’s bid has been positively received by the organising committee at this stage,” he said.

“Yorkshire is a world-class destination experienced at successfully hosting worldclass events. We believe it will provide the perfect backdrop to the world’s greatest cycle race, producing the best international Grand Depart the Tour de France has seen yet.”

News of the bid has been welcomed by Carl Les, deputy chairman at North Yorkshire County Council, who said: “It would be a great idea to bring it to Yorkshire, what with the great cycling roads we have here.

“It would bring a lot of media attention as well and give the economy a boost for a few days – the council would be delighted to help with the event.”

Arthur Caygill, 65, who has run Arthur Caygill Cycles, in Richmond, for the past 28 years, is hopeful the proposed route, which would give a 180km whistle-stop tour of Yorkshire, will come up as far as Richmondshire.

He said: “It would be brilliant – an absolute dream.”

The ex-road racer said this kind of event used to be commonplace in times gone by.

He said: “There has been a sharp decline in road racing over the past 30 years. In the Fifties and Sixties, there were a lot of international road racing competitions in Yorkshire