Inside the Tour

Last updated at 20:34 30 June 2007

Why is it starting in England this year?

Each year a city or town, usually in France, bids to host

"Le Grand Depart", the start of the Tour, which can boost

the local economy by tens of millions of pounds. It has

cost Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, £1.5m to get the

Tour to his city, but one study suggested that it will be

worth more than £115m.

Will there be any Brits to cheer?

Yes. There could be five, the most since 1987. Scot

David Millar, team leader for Saunier Duval, is the most

seasoned British starter, having won three stages in his

four Tours and once worn the leader's yellow jersey.

Millar, 30, returned last year from a two-year ban after

using the banned blood booster erythropoietin, but is

now a determined anti-doping campaigner.

Triple Olympic medallist Bradley Wiggins, 27, is a more

confident road racer since finishing the Tour for the first

time last year. The fastest sprinter Britain has produced for

10 years, Mark Cavendish, 22, starts for the T-Mobile team.

George Best fan Charlie Wegelius, born in Finland,

brought up in Humberside and making his living as a

team worker in Italy, starts his first Tour, as does new

professional Geraint Thomas, the first Welshman in the

Tour for 40 years, with his Barloworld squad.

But they won't win, will they?

No. The best a Brit has ever done is fourth, by Scot

Robert Millar in 1984, and only four have ever even worn

the yellow jersey (Tommy Simpson, Chris Boardman,

Sean Yates and David Millar). Ireland's Stephen Roche

won the Tour in 1987. Millar and Wiggins will be among

the favourites to win the prologue in central London.

Wegelius, who is fluent in Italian and lists pasta with

vodka as his favourite food, is a regular in the Giro

d'Italia and is likely to figure strongly in a mountain stage.

Even if they did, aren't they all on drugs?

It did not help that last year's winner, Floyd Landis, tested

positive for testosterone during the Tour with the test

failure announced the day after he climbed on the

podium in Paris, although he insists he is innocent. The

Tour has been linked to doping even from its earliest days,

with riders resorting to wine, cocaine and even strychnine

to get through the gruelling three weeks. Tommy

Simpson had amphetamines in his body after collapsing

and dying on Mont Ventoux in 1967.

So who's going to win?

Forget Borat, the true national hero

of the oil-rich Kazakhstan is a

33-year-old with piercing blue eyes

and an impassive face. Alexander

Vinokourov is sponsored by Kazakh

companies, his team Astana are

named after the republic's capital,

their light blue is the national colour

and he will start as favourite. "Vino" is

an all-rounder who can climb well and

hold his own in the time trials.

If so few have a chance of overall victory,

what are the others doing?

The smaller squads look merely to win a stage. French

sponsors looking for "presence" need their cyclists to be

on the attack every day, getting in front of the TV cameras.

Some teams focus on a top sprinter (Tom Boonen or

Robbie McEwen) who will target stage wins, others a

climber who will go for the King of the Mountains jersey.

I quite fancy a go on a bike now, but how

do I get my hands on a yellow jersey?

You can't. That is highly coveted and only for the leader

of the race in the overall classification, the cyclist who

gets from London to Paris in the shortest possible time.

OK, so where can I watch?

Saturday's prologue starts at 3pm, with Sunday's

stage at The Mall from 10.25am. Live on ITV3, highlights

on ITV4. Go to www.tourdefrancelondon.com