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.

The greatest endurance event in world sport starts in Leeds in just over a month, with preparations under control and an expectant public excited about Le Tour beginning in the UK.

Verity knows come rain or shine the British public will flock to the road side from July 5 to see the likes of 2013 champion Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish racing.

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.

“My anxiety is about the weather – you don’t know what it’s going to do,” said Verity.

“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 of Yorkshire that go around the world, I’d clearly have a preference for them to be under a backdrop of lashings of sunshine and beautiful blue skies, although I can’t do anything about that.”

Verity has – to use a phrase common in British cycling – controlled the controllables, with everything in order for Le Tour coming to these shores for two stages in Yorkshire and the Cambridge to London third stage.

The road surfaces have been prepared and thousands of amateur cyclists have been taking to the route each week.

Verity will be among them next week when he completes stage one from Leeds to Harrogate in its entirety, despite requiring heart surgery last year.

He has no anxiety about taking to the 190-kilometres route ahead of the professionals.

“I’ve lost three stone in weight, from cycling and healthy eating,” said Verity.

“And my cardiologist Mark Appleby is a very keen cyclist, so he’s coming to cycle the first stage with me. If something does go wrong, we’ll have the right technical back up.”