Le Tour de France 2007

This year the Tour kicks off with the prologue in London, and the first stage winds down the Kent countryside from London to Canterbury. We'd dearly love to see some of this, so here is some information we're compiling to try and make it happen. This includes times and dates, transport, accommodation, people and places!

The Route

17 Feb 2007 | Comment
Official Sites: The Official TDF 2007 Route and also the Tour de France London website. British Cycling has some coverage too.
  • Saturday 7 July London: 8km prologue, passing by Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.
    Tour de France London - See the Prologue course:
    Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Zoom in to map Prologue map
  • Sunday 8 July London-Greenwich-Canterbury: 203km.
    Tour de France London - See the Stage 1 course:

    Start End London 1 - Central London (PDF 746KB) London 2 - Greenwich (PDF 1.06MB) London 3 - Plumbstead (PDF 1.07MB) London 4 - Erith (PDF 877KB) London 5 - Dartford (PDF 849KB) Kent 1 - Dartford to Gravesend (PDF 2.39MB) Kent 2 - Medway Towns (PDF 2.55MB) Kent 3 - Maidstone (PDF 1.99MB) Kent 4 - Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells (PDF 1.23MB) Kent 5 - Horsmonden to Tenterden (PDF 1.27MB) Kent 6 - Tenterden to Ashford (PDF 2.06MB) Kent 7 - Seellindge o Stowting (PDF 2.01MB) Kent 8 - Cantebury (PDF 2.39MB) End Stage 1 map
At TourDeFranceLondon.com: The LeTour.com site also has a page on Le Tour's relationship with Great Britain. It's a bit sparse as the race has only landed on these shores three times in its history, but mention is also made of the biggest British TDF participants.


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Tour de France eyes London return

07 Mar 2008 | Comment
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/7279529.stm
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been in talks with Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme about the possibility of the event to returning to London after last year's success.

This massive event attracted millions to the capital, and tens of millions of pounds was spent over the weekend.


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Prologue

19 Jul 2007 | Comment
Liquigas, Discovery and Credit Agricole riders here.


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Prologue

19 Jul 2007 | Comment
Milram riders here.


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Prologue

19 Jul 2007 | Comment
Euskaltel, AG2R, Barloworld and Gerolsteiner riders here.


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The Tour Caravan

19 Jul 2007 | Comment
There are lots of amusing vehicles in the Tour Caravan. Also amusing was the fact that there were riders testing the course at the same time - I guess they weren't given much opportunity to familiarise themselves with the course beforehand.


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Sightseeing: Buckingham Palace

19 Jul 2007 | Comment
Here we are outside Buckingham Palace, enjoying the friendly atmosphere and the sunshine.


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Getting to the Tour

17 Feb 2007 | Comment
Here's a list of possibilities for getting to the prologue and/or stage 1:
  • Sporting Tours £250: Train travel on Thursday and 2* accommodation (3 nights), with coach journeys getting you up close to the riders.
  • VisitLondon.com's Accommodation Guide
  • NationalRail.co.uk only has timetables up to 12 weeks in advance, so we can't check exact times yet. However, a typical outward journey on Friday is 2h39 from North Walsham (1 change); the return journey on Sunday is almost 4hrs, with 2 or 3 changes and a bus service. Returning on Saturday wouldn't improve things much either. Let's hope that return journey has improved by July!
If you want to follow the Tour over the Channel, SeaFrance UK may be able to get you there. They have some Tour info of their own too.


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