The 1992 Olympic moguls champion had been widely praised for helping the French city stay in the race after its bid was severely criticised in June by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its venues being too spread-out. 

But, despite helping redesign the bid by concentrating venues around Annecy and Chamonix, Grospiron has conceded that they have too much ground to make up.

"Sports taught me to be honest and not to cheat," Grospiron told the Associated Press in an interview.

"My mission is to win.

"But with the time we have left and with the budget we have, I can't.

"I have to leave and let others try to do it."

A meeting of Annecy's Supervisory Board yesterday increased the bid's budget from €18 (£15 million/$24 million) to €20 million (£17 million/$26 million).

But Grospiron resigned because they refused to increase the funding to €27 million (£22 million/$37 million) so they could compete on an even playing field with Munich and Pyeongchang by producing more promotional films and videos and promoting the bid internationally in the build-up to the IOC choosing the host city at its Session in Durban on July 6, 2011.

"We have a lot of important things to do, but we just don't have the means to be competitive," Grospiron told the Associated Press.

"You look at the level of our rivals and we are not at the same level.

"We are behind them.

"The Olympics deserves investments, it deserves expertise.

"We are just not at the level of that today."

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