Has London missed a trick?

[bikeman66]

Following the news that London has decided not to host the 2017 Tour de France Grand Depart, do you guys think it was the right decision, or has an opportunity to raise the profile (and hopefully participation) of cycling been missed?

I kind of agree with Boris Johnson, that the reported £35 million cost of hosting the Grand Depart is money that could be better spent improving cycling infrastructure in London, but can't help thinking what a fantastic boost it would have given the sport in this country.

What do you think folks??

 

[vickster]

Controversial, but see it as a waste of money I'm afraid

 

[mythste]

I think cycling is about as popular as the country can (or can't, as the case may be) support at the moment. Money better spent on infrastructure. Good call IMO.

 

[bikeman66]

Controversial, but see it as a waste of money I'm afraid

Everyone is free to air their own personal opinion Vickster. I sort of agree................but I sort of don't at the same time. Have to admit, I was staggered to see how much it would cost!

 

[vickster]

I'm not actually interested in pro cycling...now I would support London for the Grand Depart for a women's TDF

 

[bikeman66]

I'm not actually interested in pro cycling...now I would support London for the Grand Depart for a women's TDF

I'd agree with that Vickster.

 

[bikeman66]

We do have this thread.

Sorry Adrian! I guess I should have scoured the rest of the forum to check there wasn't another thread about this before I posted mine. Hopefully there will be some folk who can have an input on this thread who perhaps haven't seen others.

 

[mjr]

It should have been coming from the tourism events budgets, not transport.

 

[jonny jeez]

Massive missed opportunity to promote the cultural advantage of London. Plus all the obvious income and the invaluable effect on national pride...look at how Yorkshire embraced the tour and embarrassed many hosting venues.

£35m probably doesn't even cover the cost of of the window cleaning at parliament.

Fools.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It should have been coming from the tourism events budgets, not transport.

This is what puzzled me on reading it. As a user of public transport in London I don't want any funds diverted for such fripperies as hosting some skinny whippets who don't mend their own punctures. As a fan of pro cycling I have a bit of a different view, but the bus user tends to win out.

 

[John the Monkey]

£35m probably doesn't even cover the cost of of the window cleaning at parliament.

To be fair, with Boris' cable car costing the taxpayer £24m, the cost of the new Routemaster, and the upcoming gardening bridge, there's probably not much in the kitty.

 

[IDMark2]

I have to say I agree with the Dogtrousers above, the story of Yorkshire losing money on the Tour de Yorkshire overall probably adds to this. Pro racing is difficult to quantify a benefit of hosting in the first place (although the full reasons and story of bidding, winning and then refusing it will out in time). Who is to say a similarly budgeted aggressive marketing campaign would not have yielded similar returns for the area. Keep the TdF in France, don't know why these races feel they have to go to other countries, except that other countries want to pay them to.

I like Pro cycle racing and watching it on telly, I like to get out and watch the ToB if it comes nearby but I don't confuse that with my day to day pootling nor what it would take to encourage those not currently cyclists to take it up. I rather think that the event is a draw to spectators because it is an event, half of which then wander home to watch X-Factor or Bake Off and never think of cycling again. Spend money on the things that matter to encourage everyday cycling, good decision I think.

 

[Booyaa]

I like the idea of hosting the womens race rather than the mens.

To the poster above, Yorkshire did not lose money on the TdF being there, it made loads, the tourist board who fronted the cash lost it. That example though makes it even stranger as to why the money is coming from the transport budget.

 

[MichaelW2]

Cycling in London probably doesn't need to have it's profile raised, and if it does, it needs to be through normalization, not 'skinny whippets who don't mend their own puncture".
Too often, cycling in the UK is viewed as an extreme sport to be done as a "challinge" in order to raise money for sick children or lifeboats or some other good cause. This may be a good thing for charidee, it may even be a good thing for the individuals involved, but I think it is harmful for cycling as a normal activity.

 

[al-fresco]

The real reason is that London knew that it would only be an anti-climax after Yorkshire 2014!