I understand a team of high-profile executives from the 'Welcome to Yorkshire' tourist board have been in secret talks to try and bring the 2016 Tour de France to HULL!

According to the Hull Daily Mail, a team led by the tourist board visited the Paris offices of the Tour's organising committee to present the region's bid to see Hull as one of the locations for the Grand Depart – the opening two days of the race.

I'm not sure that any economic impact would be quite as significant as that claimed by a 'spokesman' for the Tourist Board, who states that for Hull to be part of the tour would be a major boost for the region and that "tens of millions of pounds" would be spent by visitors snapping up hundreds of hotel rooms and visiting pubs and restaurants, but it would certainly be a major coup for the region if they can pull it off.

The route submitted for consideration proposes Leeds city centre as the starting destination from which the 22 teams would weave their way to the Yorkshire Dales, head east to Scarborough and the coast, via York and the North York Moors, before dropping south to Hull and finally to Sheffield.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome To Yorkshire, also says "The economic impact for Yorkshire will be tremendous and we will do everything we can to make sure the event comes here".

"Yorkshire is a world-class destination experienced at successfully hosting world- class events and we believe it will provide the perfect backdrop to the world's greatest cycle race."

Apparently Yorkshire's bid seems to have been positively received by the organising committee at this stage .More talks are due to take place next month and the Tour organisers will visit the region to see the proposed route.