Sport

Weather hope for Tour's Leeds start

THE only thing giving Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity sleepless nights as the Tour de France approaches is the unpredictability of the British weather. In 43 days the biggest race in the sport will begin in Leeds, and Verity knows come rain or shine the public will flock to the road side from July 5 to see the likes of 2013 champion Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish in action. He also sees it as a showcase for Yorkshire and, as such, would prefer the global audience of millions see the sun shining, rather than open heavens - as was the case when the Giro d'Italia began in Belfast earlier this month.

Verity said: "My anxiety is about the weather; you don't know what it's going to do. "All our plans are weatherproof, for whatever the weather might be, but my preference would be for blue skies, sunshine, glorious weather. "The crowds will be massive, whatever the weather. I'm sure about that. "But for the aerial shots that go around the world of Yorkshire, I'd clearly have a preference for them to be under a backdrop of lashings of sunshine and beautiful blue skies. "But I can't do anything about that."