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WORLD SPORT

2007 London Tour route is unveiled

story.london.jpg
Mayor Livingstone (center) with Tour officials after the prologue unveiling

LONDON, England -- The opening stage of the 2007 Tour de France to be held in London will start on Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square and Downing Street, before finishing on the Mall.

The 8km prologue on July 7 will start at the top of Whitehall near Trafalgar Square before passing the entrance to Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and Hyde Park.

It will finish on the Mall, the ceremonial avenue leading to Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace.

"When the Grand Depart gets here next summer, it will receive the biggest welcome from the fastest growing cycling city in Europe," said Mayor Ken Livingstone.

A day later, the riders will travel out of London through the city's financial district to Kent and finish approximately 200km later in the historic cathedral city of Canterbury.

Sections of the Tour are often held outside France and have been staged in Great Britain before.

In 1994, huge crowds gathered to watch the fourth and fifth stages which were held in southern England.

The prologue date of July 7 will come exactly two years after four suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London transport system.

Livingstone said the victims would not be forgotten.

"The date, of course, will be July 7 and there will be a tinge of sorrow as we remember the events of last July which we will commemorate when we actually have the Grand Depart," he said.

"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 added.

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