Sports story by Boris Webb, Sat, 11 Feb 2006 02:12:00 GMT


LONDON - The route of the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2007 that is being hosted by London was outlined here today by the organizers. Predictably the route touches on major landmarks in the City before leaving for Canterbury.

The opening ceremony will be held on July 6, 2007 and the prologue will take place the next day with commemoration of the second anniversary of the London bombings, which killed 57 people on July 7 last year. Outlining the route, Christian Prudhomme, the tour director said, "The 2007 tour will be a modern tale of two cities ... and plans to cement the friendship between our two great capitals."

This is the first time that the Grand Depart is being staged in London. Previously in 1974 and in 1994 a couple of stages of the cycling tour were staged in the country. The Tour de France organizers have made it a habit of staging the Grand Depart in various cities on the continent and the last one was staged in Liege in Belgium in 2004. Before that Berlin staged it in 1987, followed by Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in 1996, Dublin in 1998, Luxemburg in 1989 and 2002.

London had bid for the tour opener this year, but that bid was rejected and the Grand Depart will start in Strasbourg in 2006. The 130-kilometer run in London next year will begin on The Mall and travel to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. From here, the sprint will move towards the Tower Bridge and thence from Kent to Canterbury.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the cost of staging the event would be £3.5 million, but more than two million spectators are expected to witness the event, which will raise £74 million, he said. "When the Grand Depart gets here next summer, it will receive the biggest welcome from the fastest growing cycling city in Europe," Livingstone said adding that the July 7 victims would not be forgotten, "Having the Grand Depart on July 7 will broadcast to the world that terrorism will not win. It does not change our city. It does not shake our faith. There can be no better way of celebrating the unity of humanity than this great sporting event coming to us on that date and being seen by millions, safety and happily," he said.

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