Last Thursday, October 26th, A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation, organiser of the Tour de France but also of a lot of other sports events like 'the Dakar', etc.) presented in the Palais des Congrès in Paris track of the Tour de France 2007. Of course we already knew since a long time that this Tour will start in London (good news for my readers from the UK!!), but the rest of the Tour was mostly still unknown ... not anymore!!

The theme

After having served as Tour de France director for 18 years Jean-Marie Leblanc hands over to Christian Prudhomme. That's why he was the one who presented the Tour de France 2007 schedule and its graphical theme: 'the world in yellow' (le monde en jaune). The logo of this Tour de France - after the shirt being pulled by 6 hands and so forming a map of France in 2006 - is now a blue globe with the world depicted in yellow in the form of a cyclist.

Christian Prudhomme, © A.S.O.

Logo Tour 2006: 6 hands pull on a shirt to make the map of France of it

Logo Tour 2007 - le monde en jaune, © A.S.O.

The schedule/track

The track of the Tour seems to look the same every year ... (see animated image of the track for 2006 and 2007 on the left), but this year one can discover some new things again:
- of course the prologue and first stage (le Grand Départ) starting in London / London-Canterbury
- a short trip to Belgium in the second stage from Dunkirk (where the Tour started in 2001) to Ghent
- the track follows the hands of the clock instead of going in the opposite direction, which means the cyclists will first do the Alps followed by the Pyreneans
- the first mountain stage is already on the Saturday at the end of the first week
- a small trip (without stopping though) to Spain in the stage from Orthez to Gourette (Col d'Aubisque) (the Col d'Aubisque is part of the Tour in 2007 only for the second time of the history of the Tour, 1985 was the first time)
- 3 mountain arrivals: Col d'Aubisque (see above), Tignes and Plateau de Beille

In short this means: England with prologue and first stage starting in London, through Dunkirk to Belgium, direction Alps, two stages around Marseille and Montpellier, a time trial around Albi, the Pyreneans followed by the second time trial from Cognac to Angoulème and finally with the TGV train direction Paris for the last stage from Marcoussis to the Champs Elysées in Paris.
Christian Prudhomme thinks that the winner of the Tour 2007 will not be known before the first time trial around Albi on July 21st and even dreams of a decisional last Pyrenean stage with the arrivel on the Aubisque ... c'est beau de rêver ;-). The regular change of the jellow jersey we've seen in 2006 could therefore be repeated in 2007 ... Or as Alain Gallopin (sports director CSC) said: This Tour is as a whole as difficult as the one in 2006. In July we have seen 'musical chairs' of jellow jerseys. Chances are big that we'll see that again next year ...

The stages

- 7 July: prologue in London, 8 km (individual time trial)
- 8 July: London - Canterbury (UK), 203 km
- 9 July: Dunkirk - Ghent (Belgium), 167 km
- 10 July: Waregem (België) - Compiègne, 236 km
- 11 July: Villers-Cotterêts - Joigny, 190 km
- 12 July: Chablis - Autun, 184 km
- 13 July: Semur-en-Auxois - Bourg-en-Bresse, 200 km
- 14 July: Bourg-en-Bresse - Le Grand-Bornand, 197 km (national holiday )
- 15 July: Le Grand-Bornand - Tignes, 165 km
- 16 July: rest day in Tignes
- 17 July: Val-d'Isère - Briançon, 161 km
- 18 July: Tallard - Marseille, 229 km
- 19 July: Marseille - Montpellier, 180 km
- 20 July: Montpellier - Castres, 179 km
- 21 July: Albi - Albi, 54 km (individual time trial)
- 22 July: Mazamet - Plateau de Beille, 197 km
- 23 July: Foix - Loudenvielle-Le Louron, 196 km
- 24 July: rest day in Pau
- 25 July: Orthez - col d'Aubisque (Gourette), 218 km
- 26 July: Pau - Castelsarrasin, 188 km
- 27 July: Cahors - Angoulême, 210 km
- 28 July: Cognac - Angoulême, 55 km (individual time trial)
- 29 July: Marcoussis - Paris Champs-Elysées, 130 km

New Tour cities

The 2007 edition adds no less than 12 cities to the list of cities where the Tour has at least once started or finished a stage:
- London - capital city of the United Kingdom with 2,4 million inhabitants and most important English port; sixth foreign capital in the Tour cities list after Amsterdam (1954), Brussels (1958), Berlin (1987), Luxembourg (1989 - 2002) and Dublin (1998) - see www.visitlondon.com
- Canterbury, the ecclesiastical capital city of England
- Waregem in West-Flanders, 35.000 inhabitants
- Villers-Cotterêts, capital city of the Aisne, 10.000 inhabitants (so called Cotteréziens)
- Joigny, capital city of the Yonne, 10.000 inhabitants (so called Joviniens)
- Chablis, capital city of the Yonne, 2.500 inhabitants (so called Chablisiens), the 'golden entry gate' to Bourgogne with an important historical vineyard
- Semur-en-Auxois, capital city of the Côte d'Or, 5.000 inhabitants (so called Semurois), a fortified city at 286 meters high
- Tignes, a well-known ski city in Savoie, 2.000 inhabitants (so called Tignards), a city at 2.100 meters high which organises a yearly world championship acrobatic/artistic skiing
- Tallard in the Hautes-Alpes with 1.500 inhabitants
- Mazamet, capital city of the Tarn with 11.300 inhabitants (so called Mazamétains) in the valley of the Montagne noire and birth place of Laurent Jalabert
- Cognac, capital city of the Charente with 20.000 inhabitants (so called Cognaçais) and of course known world wide for ... cognac
- and finally the start city of the final stage: Marcoussis in the Essonne at 25 kilometers south of Paris with 7.400 inhabitants (so called Marcoussiciens)

All figures of the Tour 2007

• 94th Tour de France
• starts on July 7, 2007 (07/07/'07!!) in London and finishes on July 29, 2007 in Paris
• a total distance of approximatively 3.547 kilometers
• 1 prologue followed by 20 stages
• 2 time trials: Albi - Albi (54 km; as before in 2003) and Cognac - Angoulème (55 km)
• 6 real mountain stages:
  • Bourg-en-Bresse - Le-Grand-Bornand (197 km)
  • Le-Grand-Bornand - Tignes (165 km)
  • Val d'Isère - Briançon (161 km)
  • Mazamet - Plateau-de-Beille (197 km)
  • Foix - Loudenvielle (196 km)
  • Orthez - Gourette (Col d'Aubisque) - for this stage Cochonou already says it'll need your help to push the 2CVs ;-)
• 2 rest days: Tignes on July 16th & Pau on July 24th
• 117 km individual time trial (prologue + 2 time trial stages)
• 21 mountains in the second, first and outside category
• 12 completely new Tour cities
• 4 countries: England, Belgium, France and Spain
• € 3.200.000 prize money, of which € 450.000 for the one who'll carry the jellow jersey on the Champs Elysées ...

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