Tour de France 2007: the start in London was a big success, the Tour coming back soon?!

Added: thursday 29 November 2007 at 1:01:00

< Blog | share on | | | | |

On 7 and 8 July all eyes were on London in the world of cycling ... Transport for London (TfL) today confirmed that the event was a big success for the city and seizes the opportunity to indicate once again that London would love to see the Tour coming back as soon as possible.
A short flashback in numbers and conclusions ...

For the first time in the history of the Tour de France, London was the place to be for a Grand Départ which no one will easily forget ... On 7 July the centre of Londen was exclusively reserved for bikes with the 7,9 km prologue won by the Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara of the CSC Team. The next day the first stage also started in the centre of London to continue its journey to Canterbury.

The Tour has come to London thanks to the hard work of the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and of the London public transport organisation, Transport for London (TfL) ... the results exceeded all expectations ...

Whether it's about promoting cycling in the centre, about tourism or about the image of London, the English city won on all fronts with getting the Tour in town!
Cycling in the centre of London
One of the goals of the Mayor of London was to use the Tour de France to promote cycling in the centre of the city. This goal was definitely achieved since the communication around cycling has allowed to increase the number of people cycling around the city with 10,5% in the six months from April till September (compared to the same period last year).
The number of cycle journeys is now estimated to be 48,000 higher every day and in a survey 50% of the spectators declared they would cycle more as a result of the Tour de France coming to London.
Tourism
The Tour de France definitely also had a very positive effect on London tourism: 2 million people came to London to assist to the events during the 7/8 July weekend and another 1 millionn spectators watched the riders race through Kent.
Together these tourists spent about 88 million pound (around 123 million euros) during the Tour weekend.

Together with the other events which took place during the same weekend (the Wimbledon Tennis Finals, Live Earth and concerts at the O2 Centre and Twickenham) the counter of the number of passenger of the London Tube got loose: on Saturday 7 July no less than 1 million more passengers took the Tube compared to a similar Saturday last year and the London Tube broke the record of the highest number of passengers on a Saturday!
The image of London
Of course the Tour de France Grand Départ also had a positive effect on the image of London in all media. London has shown it's a perfect place to organise sports and other events.

The Grand Départ offered a media exposure comparable to 35 million pound (about 49 million euros) to London and to cycling.
The Tour soon back in London?!
Based on this huge success and having in mind the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to London in 2012 the Mayor of London already declared he would love to see the Tour coming back to his city the sooner the better ... TfL today confirms the negociations with A.S.O., the organisor of the Tour de France, already started to get the Tour back to London as soon as possible, preferrably before 2012!

TfL today published a report which reviews the success of the Tour de France against the Mayor and TfL's objectives. The most important points of this report are mentioned on TfL's website.
by Thomas Vergouwen
Did you like this article? Tell your friends on Facebook by clicking the buttons below!

> 3 comments | shown 3992x

this article appears in the following categories: Tour de France| Tour de France 2007| Marketing | share on | | | |

Comments

Currently 3 comments!

Jammer dat ik er niet bij was. De rest van de tour heb ik wel met mijn racefiets op de camper gevolgd. Dit was een schitterende ervaring, vooral omdat ik in het bezit was van het gele dikke tourboek, waar precies in stond vermeld hoelaat de renners waar zouden zijn. Weet iemand hoe ik aan zo'n toerboek voor 2008 zou kunnen komen. Als je van fietsen houdt moet je de tour meemaken!!!!

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Henk Scholten
| Henk Scholten | thursday 29 November 2007 at 10:27:39
Hallo Thomas;
Ik krijg al jaren al je foto`s en het tour nieuws van je te zien,en ik maak ook anderen er deelgenoot van .We hopen dat dit nog lang zo mag door gaan.
Gr Joop deckwitz.
| Joop deckwitz | thursday 29 November 2007 at 12:00:25
Hallo Henk & Joop,

Bedankt voor jullie leuke reacties !! Het is altijd leuk om te lezen dat mijn berichtjes op prijs worden gesteld, dan zie ik ten minste waar ik het voor doe :-).

Henk, dat is nog eens wat anders dan de horsavan ;-) ! Misschien hebben we elkaar (zonder het te weten) nog wel gezien dan ... Volgend jaar werk ik weer in de Tour de France in ieder geval, dus rendez-vous in Bretagne begin juli !

Het roadbook - zoals dat mooie gele Tourboek officieel heet - komt pas net voor de Tour de France zelf beschikbaar en voor iemand die niet in de Tour werkt is het inderdaad vrij moeilijk om er aan te komen!
Ik zou eventueel kunnen proberen er een paar extra te vragen (mijn vader wil er dan natuurlijk ook één ;-), maar ik weet niet of dat gaat lukken én dat is dan pas op het allerlaatste moment (ik krijg hem denk ik 3 of 4 juli).

Joop, leuk dat je anderen ook op mijn site wijst! Zolang ik zulke positieve reacties krijg én ik voldoende tijd en zin vind om te blijven schrijven en fotograferen, blijf ik het zeker doen!

Groeten,
Thomas
| Thomas Vergouwen | monday 03 December 2007 at 8:48:30