It was
last week confirmed, after months of speculation that the 2007 Tour de France
will begin in the British capital, London.The race, starting on July 6th, is expected to include a
prologue time trial passing many of the city’s major sights before a road stage
heading south towards the coast of Kent.
The specific race details will be
announced in a joint press conference due to be held in London on February
9th.The event is
expected to cost London £1.5 million to host the two days of
racing.
"I am proud to announce that
London has successfully bid to host the Grand
Depart of the Tour de France in July 2007," said Ken Livingstone, Lord Mayor of
London. "Hosting
the first stage of the legendary French cycle race will raise the profile of
cycling in the capital, attract visitors and promote the capital as a venue for
international sporting events.
"Cycling in the capital is growing
faster than anywhere else in Europe. I want
London to become a world-class cycling city and
Transport for London has increased investment in cycling from
£5.5 million in 2000, to £24 million this year.
The race last visited
England in
1994.
At the Saunier Duval – Prodir team
launch last week, British cyclist David Millar made his return to the sport
although he is unable to compete until July, later this year, when he two-year
ban expires.
David Millar and Gilberto Simoni in their new outfits. Photo copyright Roadcycling.com.
In an interview with Spanish daily,
AS, he said "For some, my name will
never be clean. But for those who can understand it, in this second stage of my
career, I want to show with results that I can be a clean athlete...Competing
without external help, to become an icon of clean cycling and use my case as an
example for the young. There are many idiots who believe that you can't win
without drugs, and we must convince the new generations that this isn't the
case."
His return will be at the 2006 Tour
de France, an event he hopes to again leave his mark on by winning the opening
prologue time trial. "I'm going to
train hard for that day. I'm even preparing a special bike. I know that it's
going to be very difficult, but it's a short distance and I have a chance to
win."
In a separate
interview with The Independent,
Millar discussed the importance of the news of London hosting the start of the 2007 Tour."Although I'll be going for that [the
2006 Tour prologue in Strasbourg] 100 per cent as
well, London
will be the chance of a lifetime."
"It's going to be
huge, absolutely massive - the level of interest, everything," said Millar. "It
can only be great news for British cycling and compared with 10 years ago, when
the race last came to England, our federation has the
resources now and the schemes all in place to exploit the opportunity a lot
better."
In the past, riders
have come back from shorter doping bans and have gone on to become icons of the
sport and celebrated geniuses.With
Millar’s ban almost over and his return to the sport now immanent, how do you
think he will be received?Should
he or other riders caught doping be allowed to return to the sport?Send your thoughts to me at ian@roadcycling.com and post them at http://forums.roadcycling.com/.
In an early show of strength, Team
CSC narrowly missed out on the opportunity to open their 2006 account at the GP
Doha.
"The whole team was up front during
the final lap and Stuart (O’Grady) was in a perfect position, right on Tom
Boonen's wheel, when the sprint started," said CSC sports director Alain
Gallopin on their official website."So it could have been a really good result, but then his chain broke. On
the other hand, Stuart was lucky not to crash, and today's effort from the team
makes me very optimistic for the Tour of Qatar."
World Champion Tom Boonen went on
to win the stage although Gallopin remained positive."We've come directly from a hard
training camp, but we've noticed that some of the riders are already in great
shape," he said. "We obviously need a bit of luck to repeat last year's huge
success in the Tour of Qatar, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got one or two
big results down here again this year."
At the race, Boonen’s team-mate and
experienced lead-out man, Guido Trenti, explained to La
Gazzetta dello Sport
that this is just a sign of things to come in the future. "Tom just has two more speeds than
the competition. In the sprint, there were four Phonak riders there but they
couldn't even hold his wheel! We could see how strong Tom was in our team
training camp and this is the right way to start the season."
For his part, Team Milram sprinter,
Erik Zabel, added that "against a Boonen like that, there's nothing you can do!"
