2007 Tour de France

The 2007 Tour de France will be the 94th Tour de France, taking place from July 7 to July 29, 2007. The organization of the Tour and London mayor Ken Livingstone announced on January 24, 2006 that the start of the tour will be in London. Livingstone revealed that the two stages would be used to commemorate the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings saying "Having the Grand Départ on the seventh of July will broadcast to the world that terrorism does not shake our city."

The route for the prologue in London and the first full stage through Kent, finishing in Canterbury was announced on February 9, 2006 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. This will be the third time the tour has visited England, previously in Plymouth (1974) and two stages across Kent, Sussex and Hampshire (1994).

Tour director Christian Prudhomme unveiled the 2007 Tour de France route in Paris on October 26, 2006. In total, the route covers 3553.9 km.[1]

Teams

There will be 21 teams of 9 riders (189 riders in total) competing in the race. The teams[2] are:

Belgium

Predictor-Lotto

Quick Step-Innergetic

Denmark

Team CSC

France

AG2R Prévoyance

Agritubel

Bouygues Télécom

Cofidis, le Crédit par téléphone

Crédit Agricole

Française des Jeux

Germany

Gerolsteiner

T-Mobile Team

Italy

Lampre-Fondital

Liquigas

Team Milram

Netherlands

Rabobank

Spain

Caisse d'Epargne

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Saunier Duval-Prodir

Switzerland

Astana

United Kingdom

Barloworld

United States of America

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

Pre-race favourites

After the retirement of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis not entering the Tour, there is no real top favourite to win the 2007 Tour de France. The main contenders are expected to be the 2006 Tour de France runner-up Óscar Pereiro; Alexandre Vinokourov, who was not allowed to start in 2006 but did win the 2006 Vuelta a España; and Alejandro Valverde, who dropped out of the 2006 Tour de France after a crash, but came second to Vinokourov in the 2006 Vuelta a España.

Betting on the 2007 Tour de France winner is already started. Shown in the table below are the cyclists that, according to the bookmakers, have the best chances of winning the 2007 Tour.

Team	Rider	Notes	Bookmakers odds
Astana	Alexandre Vinokourov		1:3.20^[1], 1:2^[2]
Caisse d'Epargne	Alejandro Valverde		1:5.00^[1], 1:4^[2]
Astana	Andreas Klöden	3th place in 2006, winner of Tirreno-Adriatico	1:6.00^[1], 1:5.5^[2]
Team CSC	Carlos Sastre	4th place in 2006	1:12.00^[1], 1:12^[2]
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team	Levi Leipheimer		1:12.00^[1],1:16^[2]
Astana	Andrey Kashechkin		1:31.00^[1], 1:16^[2]
Team CSC	Fränk Schleck		1:31.00^[1]1:18^[2]
Rabobank	Denis Menchov	6th place in 2006	1:16.00^[1], 1:20^[2]
Predictor-Lotto	Cadel Evans	5th place in 2006	1:21.00^[1], 1:20^[2]
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team	Alberto Contador		1:20^[2]
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team	Janez Brajkovič		1:25^[2]
Saunier Duval-Prodir	José Ángel Gómez Marchante		1:25^[2]
Lampre-Fondital	Damiano Cunego	Not in Tour^[3]Best young rider in 2006	1:26.00^[1]
Caisse d'Epargne	Óscar Pereiro	2nd place in 2006	1:67.00^[1], 1:28^[2]
Saunier Duval-Prodir	Iban Mayo		1:101.00^[1],1:33^[2]
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team	Yaroslav Popovych		1:21.00^[1],1:40^[2]
T-Mobile Team	Michael Rogers		1:26.00^[1],1:40^[2]
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team	Tom Danielson		1:51.00^[1],1:40^[2]
AG2R Prévoyance	Christophe Moreau		1:61.00^[1],1:40^[2]
Saunier Duval-Prodir	Koldo Gil		1:41.00^[1]
Gerolsteiner	Markus Fothen	Runner-up young rider in 2006	1:36.00^[1],1:40^[2]
Rabobank	Michael Rasmussen	King of the Mountains in 2006	1:51.00^[1],1:40^[2]

Stages

Prologue - 2007-07-07: London - 7.9 km (ITT):

On Saturday July 7, 2007, the Individual time trial will start in Whitehall, London passing Westminster, then along Victoria Street and Buckingham Gate, past Buckingham Palace and looping through Hyde Park before finishing in The Mall. A distance of 7.9 km will be covered by the riders.

Stage 1 - 2007-07-08: London - Canterbury, 203 km:

This 203 km stage of the race will start in London and head through Westminster, Greenwich, Woolwich, Erith and in to Kent, to Dartford, Gravesend, with an intermediate sprint for the Maillot Vert (Green Jersey) in Medway. The route heads south to Maidstone and another Sprint, Tonbridge and then the first King of the Mountains Climb before reaching Royal Tunbridge Wells, then the second Climb, another Sprint in Tenterden, to Ashford and the final Climb before finishing in Canterbury.