Gary Verity, the man who successfully brought the Tour de France start back to the United Kingdom in 2013, has confirmed that the Tour de Yorkshire is hoping to reach WorldTour status within the next three years.
The announcement comes as the organisers of the inaugural edition of the event, which takes place from May 1-3, confirmed that both Bradley Wiggins (WIGGINS) and Marcel Kittel (Giant Alpecin) would star in this year's race.
"We've signed a ten-year deal initially [with Tour de France organisers ASO] but the intention is that as long as cycling is popular and people want to watch cycling, we want to have this race in Yorkshire," Verity told Cyclingnews.
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"WorldTour, that's our ambition. We'd like to get that done over the next three years and that's a realistic goal and one that's fitting for cycling in the United Kingdom and in Yorkshire."
This year will see Bradley Wiggins make his debut for his new WIGGINS squad, having stepped out of the limelight of Team Sky after Paris-Roubaix. The British rider is unlikely to fight for top honours in the Tour of Yorkshire but for Verity the rider represents top billing due to his public appeal, and the fact that he missed out on riding the Tour de France last year.
"I'm of course really pleased and I think we've got a stellar line-up. A few people said when we announced the race that it wouldn't be a proper event but we've got 144 in the peloton and we're 20 percent bigger than the Tour of Britain. We've got some great teams and great riders," he said.
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