London "has turned down the chance" to host the 2017 Tour de France Grand Départ on "financial grounds," according to Tom Cary of the London TELEGRAPH. Transport for London, which as the body responsible for all transport policy in London "would have provided the funds for staging the event," said that it had been a "difficult" decision. TfL Managing Dir of Surface Transport Leon Daniels said, "We have loved hosting the Tour de France in 2007 and 2014, both of which were amazing events that inspired thousands of new cyclists and showcased London as a world class city for cycling. We have always said that the return of the Tour was subject to funding." The BBC said that the timing of the decision angered Amaury Sport Organisation, the French company which owns the race. TfL "reportedly pulled out of the running last week, one day before contracts were due to be signed" (TELEGRAPH, 9/29).
NOT WORTH IT: In London, Peter Walker reported London Mayor Boris Johnson said that the city's decision to "turn down the chance" to host the start of the Tour de France in '17 was made because the £35M ($53M) cost could be "spent better elsewhere." Johnson said that the choice was "entirely my call." He said, "I had to take a very tough decision, obviously painful. In an ideal world, you know me, my policy is to have your cake and eat it. The difficulty was we had to make a choice -- £35 million is an awful lot to spend on a one-off event when you could put that money in to long-term projects. What people really want is safer cycling lanes. For me it was a no-brainer." The £35M cost would "partly involve a direct payment" to the Tour organizers, with the rest covering the costs of the "associated disruption to the city over two days of road closures and re-routed transport" (GUARDIAN, 9/29). The BBC's Matt Slater reported given the upfront costs and the prospect of "major cuts to transport spending" across the U.K. later this year, bosses at TfL and the Greater London Authority, its parent body, reportedly decided the city "could not afford a third visit from the world's biggest bike race." It is believed the 2017 Grand Depart "will now be held in Germany," which has not hosted a Tour stage since '05 (BBC, 9/28).
'WASTED' OPPORTUNITY: The BBC reported Labour's candidate for London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the Government had "wasted a huge opportunity." In '14 the Tour was watched by crowds totaling 4.8 million people in the U.K. and generated around £128M, according to a report published last year (BBC, 9/29).
