Boris Johnson has admitted that he made the decision for London to withdraw from the race to stage the Grand Depart of the 2017 Tour De France.
The Mayor of London made the decision so that the withdrawal was made a day before contracts with race organisers Amaury Sports Organisation were due to be signed, told the BBC: : "I will not waste cycling money on something that would only deliver very brief benefits.
"I'm afraid I have got to put my hands up here and say I took the decision not to go forward with it.
"You've got to take some tough decisions in government and I think 35m quid on a one-off event was just not worth it for London."
A number of German cities including Berlin are now favourite to host the 2017 Grand Depart.