THE route for next year's Tour de France starting in London has been revealed.

It's the first time in the great race's 100 year history that it has started in London.

The stage will be held over three days, starting on July 6, 2007, and will pass some of the capital's most famous landmarks.

The race's prologue will be a lap of central London, starting on Whitehall, before passing the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and finishing at the Mall.

During Stage One of the race 200 of the world's best riders will snake past 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 cyclists will pass through Dartford, Medway, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford before the stage finish in Canterbury.

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.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "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 Depart gets here next summer, it will receive the biggest welcome from the fastest growing cycling city in Europe."

London Development Agency CEO Manny Lewis said the Tour would inject £56m into the London economy.

Commissioner of Transport for London Peter Hendy said cycling was growing in popularity in the capital.

"Recorded cycle journeys in London have increased 100 per cent in the past five years, and meanwhile it is also becoming safer, as there has been a 40 per cent reduction in the number of cyclists killed or injured on London's roads," he said.