Wednesday 12 December 2018 13:43, UK
Yorkshire may have to wait to host the start of La Vuelta a Espana after organisers announced its 2020 edition would begin in Utrecht and Noord-Brabant.
Yorkshire is in talks to host the first three days of the Spanish grand tour and 2021 had been suggested as a possibility, but the race seems unlikely to start outside Spain for two years running making 2022 a more feasible option.
The 2020 race will be only the fourth edition to start abroad, following Lisbon in 1987, Assen in 2009 and Nimes in 2017.
Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity has held talks with Vuelta director Javier Guillen about bringing the first three days of the race to the county.
"We're just debating with Javier which year the Vuelta will start in Yorkshire," said Verity. "What year works for him and what year works best for us and how can we come to an accommodation on that."
Staging the Vuelta would further elevate Yorkshire's already booming reputation in world cycling, which is set to expand further when it hosts next September's world championships.
But it seems a British start of the Vuelta will have to wait following Wednesday's announcement the Netherlands will host the opening stages in 2020.
The race will start with a team time trial in Utrecht before a second stage from Hertogenbosch back to Utrecht. The third stage will head into the province of Noord-Brabant with a stage starting and finishing in Breda.
Vuelta director Javier Guillen said he was "impatient" to experience a second Dutch start to the race given the "passion felt by the Dutch for cycling and the whole universe surrounding this sport".
