• TfL rejects opportunity to ‘ensure value for money’ • 2017 Tour now likely to begin in Germany

The chances of a further British Grand Départ for the Tour de France following last year’s highly successful visit to Yorkshire have apparently been dashed after London turned down a last-minute opportunity to host the race’s opening stages in 2017.

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The Tour organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation, had said publicly after the Yorkshire start that it would return to Britain as soon as practicable. Manchester and Edinburgh, besides London, were also in the frame – the Scottish capital having bid unsuccessfully for the 2014 Grand Départ behind Yorkshire – but ASO had chosen London, which was the venue for the race’s prologue and opening stage start in 2007, which was viewed as one of the most spectacular Tour starts ever.

“To ensure value for money we must make difficult choices,” Leon Daniels, the managing director of surface transport at Transport for London, told BBC Sport. “We have always said that the return of the Tour was subject to funding.” It is understood that rather than turn to another British city, Amaury Sport has awarded the start for 2017 to Germany. Following this year’s start in the Netherlands the 2016 race returns to France, with a Grand Départ in the Manche département.

Faced with tightening budgets, TfL appears to have got cold feet over the Tour, which is far more expensive to stage than it was in 2007, when London paid £7m for the privilege.

Yorkshire’s Grand Départ enjoyed a £10m subvention from central government, which initially seemed reluctant to contribute but found the cash after lobbying from local politicians including the then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, the city which hosted the second-stage finish.

The entire budget for the three days of racing in Britain, and the three-day build-up which preceded it, was put at £27m, with an estimated £102m boost to Yorkshire’s economy from visitor revenues.

The body which ran the Yorkshire Grand Départ, Welcome to Yorkshire, successfully staged a legacy event this year but was reported this week as having a £1m shortfall, due in part to overspending on merchandising for the Tour start.