Sir Gary Verity removed from world cycling championship role

Sir Gary Verity has been credited with bringing a number of world class cycling events to Yorkshire

The man responsible for creating the Tour De Yorkshire cycle race has been removed as a director of the company delivering the Road World Cycling Championships.

Sir Gary Verity's directorship of Yorkshire 2019 has been terminated, company documents show.

The world championships will be held in Yorkshire in September this year.

Yorkshire 2019 said Sir Gary was removed following his resignation as the boss of Welcome To Yorkshire.

Sir Gary Verity quit his role as chief executive of the tourism board in March on health grounds.

It came after an investigation found he had "made errors of judgement regarding his expenses", and concerns were raised that he had subjected staff to "completely unacceptable" behaviour.

BBC News revealed that before his departure, Sir Gary had voluntarily paid back £40,000 in expenses.

As well as creating the Tour De Yorkshire, Sir Gary was credited with bringing the start of the Tour de France to Yorkshire in 2014.

Yorkshire 2019 will help stage the UCI Road World Cycling Championships, which is considered to be the world cup of cycling.

The Tour de Yorkshire is now considered to be the UK's most high profile domestic cycle race

A spokesman for Yorkshire 2019 said: "Welcome to Yorkshire is a partner of Yorkshire 2019 and Sir Gary was their appointee to our board.

"In light of Sir Gary's resignation, Welcome to Yorkshire requested a change to that appointment."

The spokesman said no complaints had been received about Sir Gary's conduct, or expenses while a member of the Yorkshire 2019 board.