He added that a "Tour de France en Ecosse" was likely to be "regional rather than city-based". He wouldn't offer a timetable for the proposed visit, which was first discussed last autumn, though, with a return visit to London rumoured for 2012, it is unlikely to be before then.

Last year's Grand Départ in London, which comprised a prologue time trial in Whitehall and a first road stage from London to Canterbury, had Prudhomme purring with delight. An estimated million people lined the prologue course, while three million was the figure given for the stage through Kent to Canterbury; the two-day stay was also estimated to be worth £123million to the south of England.

"We've had several meetings," said the Tour director of his contact with EventScotland, the national events agency, whose chief operations officer, Paul Bush, met with Prudhomme in Paris last year. "They've explained to us that Scotland wants to base a policy around major events, and the Tour de France is one of those events. Paul Bush wasn't in a hurry, but he really wanted it. We have a lot of applications from different countries, but we're very proud that Scotland wants the Tour."

In terms of the logistics of starting the Tour in Scotland, it has been suggested that high speed trains could transport the bulk of the Tour entourage – which, in addition to the 180 riders, numbers some 4,500 people – back to mainland Europe.

"We'd certainly have to look very closely at that," he said, "but before we went to London, honestly, I thought to myself that it'd be once and once only. When it was all over, I knew that was no longer an option. I was bowled over by the crowds, and the understated way in which the police dealt with it, a week after the (Heathrow] terrorist attempts. That's what a real democracy looks like. London is the capital of the world. I'm Parisian, but London is the capital of the world.

"It's a source of great satisfaction to me that there was a real 'London effect'," continued Prudhomme. "We have never had so many applications to host stages – 231 and counting. We've got applications from Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Spain for the Grand Départ, and I'm certain it's down to the 'London Effect.' Budapest, Qatar, Japan, Quebec, Estonia, Scotland ... they've all approached us, and it's thanks to London."

Prudhomme insisted that the departure of Ken Livingstone as London mayor – with Livingstone having been the key driver in the project to bring the Tour to London – wouldn't affect a return visit but refused to confirm it would be in 2012.

"I met Boris Johnson's chief advisor in Cholet (during the first week of this year's Tour]," said Prudhomme, "and he expressed (Johnson's] very keen interest in taking the Tour back to London. I simply said to him that the Grand Départ in London last year was unforgettable."

With Prudhomme's suggestion that a Tour en Ecosse would be "regional," there could be the opportunity to take it beyond the Central Belt. Prudhomme, however, was unwilling to speculate about possible locations for the prologue and a first road stage – not least because he has never been.

"No, I've never been to Scotland," he admitted, "but right from when I was young, my brother never tired of telling me about the time he climbed Ben Nevis. I don't know it, but we'll go there. It's hard to get everywhere, but we will go. The Scots understand that we're very busy, but they're not in a rush – and they really want it."

Paul Bush confirmed yesterday that this is indeed the case. "After the Tour we'll sit down with them," said Bush, who added that – with the success of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, and the construction of a new indoor velodrome in Glasgow – cycling events are a priority for EventScotland.

"With the likes of Chris Hoy, and the new velodrome, we are certainly keen to have a portfolio of major cycling events," added Bush. "But apart from that, the Tour de France fits perfectly with our wider objectives. It is a truly global event, and it is certainly an aspiration of ours to bring it to Scotland."