The biggest annual sporting event in the world, the Tour de France, will start in London in 2007, coming to the UK capital for the first time in its 100-year history.

The Grand Départ, the start of the Tour, will come to London and Kent over three days during the weekend 6-8 July 2007 and is expected to attract more than a million visitors to London, providing a significant economic benefit. It will be the first ever Grand Départ in the UK.

The Tour de France creates a carnival atmosphere wherever it visits, with more than 10 million spectators lining the route each year over the three weeks of the event. The peleton racing through the UK capital’s historic streets promises to provide a compelling spectacle for families, cyclists, and sports fans.

Cycling is growing in London faster than any other city in Europe, with cycling journeys in the capital rising by 100 per cent in just five years.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: "The Tour de France coming to London in 2007 is great news for sport in the capital and underlines the city's ability to host prestigious international sporting events."

"It will help promote cycling, which is on the rise in London, and the capital's streets will provide a superb backdrop to one of the greatest sporting events in the world. When the Grand Départ gets here next summer, it will receive the biggest welcome from the fastest growing cycling city in Europe."

The core funder of the London leg of the Tour de France is the London Development Agency. Manny Lewis, CEO of the LDA said, "Hosting the Grand Départ will further reinforce London’s profile as an international tourism destination and London’s ability to host major international events. It will also generate a significant economic benefit to London – anticipated to be £56m - from spectators, race officials and media staying in the capital in the build up to and during the event."

The three days of the Grand Départ include the Tour de France opening ceremony, Prologue and Stage one. The Prologue on Saturday 7 July will be an eight kilometre (5 miles) lap of central London, starting on Whitehall, taking in some of London’s most famous landmarks including Whitehall, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and finishing on the Mall.

Stage One, on Sunday 8 July, will start in central London, passing close to a variety of historic and contemporary sites including Big Ben, the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin and crossing Tower Bridge close to City Hall. The race will then travel through Bermondsey, Deptford, Greenwich and Erith before travelling in to Kent.

In Kent the Tour will pass through Dartford, Medway, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford before the stage finish in Canterbury (14).

Around 200 of the world’s best cyclists will battle it out for the legendary yellow jersey on the streets of London and will then go on to cover around 3,500 kilometres over the course of three weeks. Every year between 10 and 15 million spectators watch the race from roadside over the course of the three weeks, making it the largest annual sporting event in the world.