While this year’s Tour de France Grand Depart hosted in Yorkshire turned out to be successful enough to create the Tour of Yorkshire legacy race running next three seasons, reportedly seven other areas of the UK became interested in bringing cycling’s biggest stage event back on the British soil.

Even though the route of the 2015 Tour de France is yet to be unveiled on Wednesday, it is already known that its Grand Depart will take place in Utrecht, with to following stages being held on the Belgian soil. In such circumstances the French three-week event won’t return to United Kingdom sooner than in 2016, but Britons shouldn’t take anything for granted as Thailand and Germany also expressed their intentions to become host countries.

“Christian Prudhomme was still being contacted by people including Thailand and Germany last week and seven different places in the UK who all say ‘we want what they had in Yorkshire’,” Gary Verity said, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“It’s cycling and the event itself and how that can put a place on the map if you can take it live on TV in 190 countries in the world.”

Welcome to Yorkshire’s chief executive Gary Verity, the man who led Yorkshire’s bid to host the world renowned cycle race emphasized, that this year’s Grand Depart turned out to be a huge success and he aims to continue promoting the discipline in the area by organizing the Tour of Yorkshire next three seasons. In 2015, the three-day event will be held from May 1 to 3.

“It’s not going to be the same route every year and we hope it will go to a number of places that the Tour de France didn’t visit, for example the east of Yorkshire and the coast in particular but not exclusively that – like the North York Moors.”

“We do have places in mind but because we have a place in mind doesn’t mean to say that it is a done deal.”