London turns down chance to host 2017 Tour de France start

London will not host the Tour de France in 2017 after a combination of "politics and money" prompted the capital to pull out of the deal a day before contracts were due to be signed.

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. The Tour also visited London in 2014 when the race began in Yorkshire and proved a huge hit with the public.

The historic event in 2007 was credited with reviving the British public's interest in cycling and generating an estimated £123m for the city, but Transport for London, which is in charge of London's bid, decided at the last minute that the cost of hosting in 2017 would be too high.

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"To ensure value for money we must make difficult choices," Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, told BBC Sport. "We have always said that the return of the Tour was subject to funding."

The decision has provoked a backlash, not least from the Tour's organiser, ASO, which is said to be angered by the timing of the decision. TfL reportedly pulled the plug one day before contracts were due to be signed and after London had seen off competition from several other locations.

Labour's London 2016 mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan blasted the decision, saying via Twitter: "By not hosting the iconic Tour de France, the Mayor and the Government are wasting a huge opportunity to show London to the world. The Tour is one of the world's greatest sporting events. Londoners deserve to know why it's been cancelled at the last minute.”

The decision "does not look professional and it could damage London's reputation for hosting sporting events", warns Tom Edwards of BBC London.

He goes on to explain that government cuts to TfL's budgets prompted its reconsideration. The cost of staging the Grand Depart is estimated to be around £35m and some of that money would have come out of the organisation's cycling safety budget, he adds.

Critics have also questioned whether the Mayor of London Boris Johnson was keen to spend money on an event which would take place after he had left office – he is due to step down in 2016 – and he told reporters that the decision not to host event was "entirely my call".

"Politics and money eventually scuppered Le Tour in London in 2017, and it seems very unlikely it will return any time soon," says Edwards.

Public opinion appears set against the mayor with 70 per cent of those surveyed on the Daily Telegraph website believing Boris has made the wrong decision.

The Times claim that the event is now likely to be staged in Germany, "depriving Britain of the world's biggest bicycle race and a boost to the economy of more than £100m".

Normandy will host next year's Tour de France Grand Depart, where Britain's Chris Froome will start as defending champion.