Tour de France rides again

Negotiations have begun to bring the Tour de France back to London before the 2012 Olympics, the capital's Transport Commissioner has revealed.

Peter Hendy travelled to Paris two weeks ago to meet the Tour's director, Christian Prudhomme, after about three million people witnessed the race's opening events in London and Kent in July.

He said: "There were more people in London for the start than in Paris for the finish, and by quite a sizeable amount. Christian Prudhomme was very pleased with the reception. He didn't say, 'We might be back,' he said, 'We will be back.' We would very much like them to be back before the Olympics."

A Transport for London report today calculates the Tour generated £73 million in London, £15million in Kent and £35 million of publicity.

TfL spent £3.8 million hosting the event as part of its efforts to increase cycling in London.

Londoners are now estimated to make more than half a million journeys by bike each day - up 48,000 year on year. A survey of spectators found more than half would cycle more frequently as a result of the Tour.

Mr Hendy said: "While we are not claiming that the Tour is totally responsible for it, we got another 10 per cent increase in cycling on our road network-this summer compared with last summer. We think a degree of that is down to the Tour. It went better than anybody had expected. It certainly established that London is capable of hosting large-scale sporting events and coping admirably."

The day of the prologue time trial - in which riders race round Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park - saw the Tube carry 3.2 million passengers, a record for a Saturday. The Tour left London the following day for the 126-mile opening stage through Kent, which ended in Canterbury.

Mr Hendy said it was more likely that the Tour would return to Britain for one or more stages rather than another Grand Départ, as these are fiercely fought over. There is also the possibility of hosting the women's race, known as the Grand Boucle.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "Bringing the Tour de France to London has been hugely successful, boosting cycling and showing Londoners' huge interest in watching and participating in sport is growing as we approach 2012."