Tour is coming to London

London will host the start of the 2007 Tour de France, it was confirmed today.

The race, which attracted around three million spectators on its last appearance on English roads, will visit the UK for only the third time in its 103-year history.

The news is the result of some hard campaigning by the mayor of London Ken Livingstone, who presented a bid document to Jean-Marie Leblanc, director of the Tour, in person.