An army of volunteers will be hitting the streets of the capital to help ensure the success of London’s stage of the epic Tour de France cycle race on Monday 7th July.
The Mayor Boris Johnson’s Team London Ambassadors will play a key role in the volunteering effort, by helping spectators at two official fan parks with practical advice, local travel information and directions. Tour de France Tour Makers will be marshalling along the entire race route on the day.
Fans and spectators seeking the best vantage point are not limited to the streets lining the course; elite action will be broadcast on big screens at the official Tour de France fan parks in Green Park and Trafalgar Square. The fan parks will also feature a wide range of activities such as a French-style food market, a Tour de France Museum, interactive cycling activities, an outdoor cinema, live music, celebrity appearances and shops showcasing all of the latest bike equipment and accessories. There will be an additional big screen set up at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for spectators to enjoy the whole of Stage 3 live. Park Champions, the official Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park volunteers, will be at this site to assist visitors.
Team London is the Mayor’s army of volunteers who play a key part in sporting, cultural and business events around the capital, including Prudential RideLondon, the Virgin Money London Marathon and the ICC Champions Trophy. Famously, 8,000 Team London Ambassadors provided the welcoming face of the capital for visitors during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and became one of the highlights of that summer. This year, they will be at the Green Park and Trafalgar Square fan parks answering questions from tourists and Londoners alike and helping to show the world the very best that London has to offer.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “As a nation, we roared Bradley Wiggins to victory in the 2012 Tour, we cheered as Team GB and Paralympics GB re-wrote cycling history a few weeks later, and we watched in awe last year as Chris Froome brought home the maillot jaune. With British cycling in the rudest of health it’s only fitting that London is set to play host the greatest cycle race on the planet. The Tour in London will be the most fantastic spectacle of sport, which will surely delight and entertain. Forget Rio, the real carnival this year is to be had in these magnificent fan parks with our wonderful Team Londoners. Bienvenue Le Tour!”
Team London Ambassador, Ashley Newman, said: “Volunteering has been a fantastic way of discovering new things, meeting new people and helping them. It is also great fun and means I can get involved in projects and events that I would normally not have the opportunity to. I have to say that volunteering during the Olympic and Paralympic Games was one of the best times of my life - I met so many wonderful people and everyone was so positive about the Games and London generally. I am delighted to be taking part in another huge sporting event in the capital – the return of the Tour de France!”
Cycling fans are expected to turn out en masse to see the Tour de France when it reaches London on 7th July 2014 as part of a three-day visit to Britain. 200 riders will set out from Cambridge just after midday, entering London through Epping Forest and into Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. They will then ride through the East End before turning westwards along the Thames. Buckingham Palace will form the backdrop to the climax of the three day event, as riders sprint up The Mall at approximately 4pm. The Tour starts its three day visit to Britain on Saturday July 5, with a 120-mile leg from Leeds to Harrogate via the Yorkshire Dales National Park. On day two, riders will go from York to Sheffield before travelling by car to Cambridge ready for the start of day three.
Notes to editors
- Team London Ambassadors - Team London is the Mayor of London's ambitious programme to mobilise an army of volunteers across the capital. The aim is to improve life in London through programmes that will reduce crime, increase opportunities for youth and improve quality of life by cleaning and greening London and building stronger neighbourhoods. http://volunteerteam.london.gov.uk.
- Tour de France Tour Makers - Asda is the official partner of the Tour Maker programme and has supported it across all three UK Stages of the Tour de France, providing essential training and race day uniforms for the Tour Makers involved
- The Mayor is committed to ensuring London retains its status as the world capital of sport, and set up the Major Events Oversight Board to advise the Mayor on major events in the capital. The board is chaired by Sir Edward Lister, and comprises of TfL, the emergency services and other key partner agencies to provide strategic direction and advice to the Mayor in the approach to bidding, staging and evaluating major events in London. The board ensures that all major road events continue to be carefully considered and tightly managed to ensure that we get the full benefit from the event without undue impact on Londoners and London’s transport. Further, this Board looks at ways to ensure that there is effective communication of the major events programme with Londoners, visitors, businesses and stakeholders alike, to allow sufficient notice and forward planning for everyone.
- TfL is undertaking an extensive programme of public engagement and communication regarding the arrival of the Tour de France. This is designed to ensure people living and working in London can understand the potential impacts of the Tour and plan ahead to avoid unnecessary inconvenience. The engagement activities include leaflet drops to residents and businesses along the route, work with the local boroughs, local business engagement events and public information sessions.
- Tube and rail will be the best way to get around the affected areas of London on the day, although stations along and around the route, particularly the finish at the Mall, will be extremely busy. The Circle and District lines are expected to be extremely busy as will stations along the route, particularly in Zone 1 from midday until around 18:00.
- The detailed route is now available on the TfL website at tfl.gov.uk/tourdefrance To avoid delays drivers are advised to, wherever possible, avoid areas near the event routes in the affected parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex and London. For up to date information on how transport services are operating, check before you travel at tfl.gov.uk and follow @TfLTravelAlerts (Tube, DLR and London Overground), @TfLTrafficNews (roads) and @TfLBusAlerts (bus).
- The Tour de France will kick off a spectacular summer of cycling in London, with the exciting event followed by Prudential RideLondon on the 9th and 10th August and then the Tour of Britain, which will finish in the capital on 14th September.
- This summer’s cycling windfall is likely to inspire thousands more Londoners to take to two wheels, building on the Mayor’s ambition for cycling to be an integral part of the transport network. As part of his cycling vision, the Mayor is already engaging in a vast £1billion programme of improvements - creating a series of enhanced cycling superhighways, urban ‘quietways’ for more cautious cyclists, and turning some outer boroughs into mini-Hollands.
- The Tour de France is the world's largest annual sporting event and covers approximately 3,500kms. A worldwide television audience of 3.5billion people watch the event annually. 190 countries around the world broadcast the Tour de France and there are 5,000 hours of TV coverage annually. The last time the Tour visited England was in 2007 when London hosted the Grand Départ, which is the opening of the race.
- For more information on the Mayor’s Vision for Cycling visit http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/planning-for-the-future/vision-for-cycling