Welcome To Yorkshire launched its Back Le Bid campaign in March, and has since received 170,000 expressions of support from residents, businesses and athletes.

Yorkshire beat Barcelona, Venice, Berlin, Germany, Utrecht and Scotland to win the bid.

The Tour de France team visited Yorkshire in May, greeted by trade bodies, universities, MPs and the business community Yorkshire’s bid was publicly backed by star sprinter Mark Cavendish, whose family lives in Harrogate; Team Sky team mate Ben Swift; Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy; Leeds-based Olympic triathlon medallists Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee; Brian Robinson; the first British man to win a stage of the Tour de France in 1958; Barry Hoban, winner of eight Tour de France stages, and Malcolm Elliott the first British rider to win a points jersey in a Grand Tour.

A delegation of York business, university and council representatives visited York’s twin city Dijon, enlisted its backing. Even French premier François Hollande backed the bid following a meeting with Labour leader Ed Milliband, MP for Doncaster North, in Paris.

The bid received full backing of the local authorities, police, transport companies as well as cross-party political support and business community buy in.

Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, said they chose to hold the event again in Britain earlier than expected because of the hype surrounding Bradley Wiggins’ historic victory last July and the enormous crowds that followed the cycling events in the Olympic Games.

He said: “Yorkshire is a region of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking landscapes whose terrains offer both sprinters and attackers the opportunity to express themselves. We have encountered a phenomenal desire from the Yorkshire team to welcome the Tour de France and have no doubt that passion and support will be particularly evident for the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2014.”