Security high as London welcomes Tour De France

More than half a million spectators are expected to descend on central London today as the Tour de France, the world’s biggest annual sporting event, hits town.

The British capital is being turned into a traffic-free zone for today’s sprint trial.

Policing of the event has been reviewed in the wake of last week’s terror attacks, which sees Britain on a “severe” security alert – its second highest security threat level. Today is also the second anniversary of the July 7 attacks.

Strong and “appropriate” policing will be in place, Scotland Yard said.

In a colourful blur of raw power, 189 riders will power off from Whitehall, past landmarks including the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park before finishing on The Mall.

Eighteen giant TV screens will be erected around the Prologue route to allow spectators to follow the riders, who will set off one at a time from 3pm.

Each will hurtle around the course at speeds of up to 44mph – enough to trigger speed cameras.

Hyde Park will be home to the People’s Village, a free event with interactive cycling displays and French food and drink stalls.

London and Kent are set to receive a £115m (€170m) boost from the presence of the Tour, according to Transport for London, the capital’s transport authority.

TfL’s head of special projects, Mick Hickford, said: “Staging the Tour de France is a huge logistical operation. But this event has been years in the planning and I am confident disruption will be kept to a minimum.”

Tomorrow the riders will set off on the first gruelling stage of their three-week race.

Before each stage the Tour “caravan”, a procession of 200 sponsors’ vehicles tossing out free gifts, drives the length of the route.

Stage One moves from London to Canterbury, carving its way through some of Britain’s most picturesque and historic towns.

The race starts in The Mall, runs through Admiralty Arch and then proceeds to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

The riders will cross The Thames before riding past the London Eye and looping back to take in St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London.

They then head south-eastwards, passing over Tower Bridge, through Bermondsey and Deptford to Greenwich.

Here they hit the burners at the actual start, also known as the Depart reel, at the stroke of midday, crossing the Greenwich Meridian Line from where all time zones are measured.

The race then passes through Woolwich, Abbey Wood and Erith, before leaving London for Dartford in Kent.

They will also speed through Gravesend and on to Medway, dominated by Rochester Castle and Cathedral.

Passing on through Maidstone and Tonbridge the riders will then head to Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The route winds through the Kent countryside, through Tenterden and past Ashford. It finishes in Canterbury.

This is the first time the Tour has started in England, but the third time it has passed through in its 104-year history.

In 1974, to celebrate the UK’s entry in to the Common Market, a stage took place around Plymouth.

And about three million people packed the roadsides along England’s south coast in 1994 when the Tour last visited Britain to mark the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

The event is watched by as many as 15 million people on the roadside every year with an estimated two billion watching on television over the three weeks.