The report said a quarter of everyone living in the Yorkshire and the Humber region came out to watch and the Tour attracted 113,000 visitors from outside the United Kingdom, generating £33 million into the United Kingdom economy.
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Announcing the decision to decline hosting duties in 2017, Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at Transport for London (TfL), yesterday said the return of the Tour was always “subject to funding”. “The Government and Boris Johnson have serious questions to answer”.
London had won the competition to host the opening stage, or Grand Depart, of the prestigious cycling race on the tenth anniversary of its first successful hosting in 2007.
London beat Manchester and Edinburgh, but withdrew at last minute.
Mr Johnson said: “I’m afraid I have got to put my hands up here and say I took the decision not to go forward with it”.
The London Mayor, who describes himself as “the biggest cycling nut in the world”, said the £35m it would cost to host the event could be better spent.
Work is now underway on two new cycle lanes in London, but TfL underspent its cycling budget between 2008 – 2014 by an astonishing £150m. A spike in interest from countries outside Europe such as the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. have seen sponsorship revenues soar, while in Europe the event has become more popular than ever with increased interest from Italy and the Netherlands.
He told BBC Sport: “To ensure value for money we must make hard choices”.
Asked why London made the initial bid for the event only to later pull out, he said: “You’ve got to make a few tough choices”.
It was too soon for Yorkshire to bid for the 2017 Grand Depart, Sir Gary said, but he was “very excited” by the prospect of it returning soon.
The capital enjoyed cycling action with a stage of the Tour that started in Cambridge passing through the East End by Canary Wharf to finish in The Mall.
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Danny Williams of the blog Cyclists in the City and a member of the mayor’s road task force, tweeted: “I’m a fan but not of spending safety cash this way”. For example, in 2014, the Tour travelled through parts of Yorkshire – home of Bradley Wiggins – as well as London itself.
