After the start of the 2007 Tour de France in Great Britain, the Tour will make a short visit to Flanders. According to sportwereld.be the second stage of next years Tour will start in Duinkerken (France) and will finish in Gent (Belgium) and Belgian 3 times green jersey winner Freddy Maertens will be honoured with a sprint in Middelkerke during that stage. After Middelkerke the riders will pass Gistel to hounr two times Tour winner (1936, 1939) Sylvère Maes and two times stage winner Johan Museeuw.

The third stage will start in Waregem and will bring the riders back to France, the stage finishes in Compiègne, the city where the classic Paris-Roubaix starts.

The final stage of next year’s Tour will start at Marcoussis (Essonne), the town where France’s National Centre of Rugby Excellence is based. From there, the peloton will travel on to the traditional finish on the Champs-Elysées  Paris.
 
The choice of  ‘départ’ is linked to France's hosting of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which kicks-off a few weeks later.The official announcement of the Tour de France route in 2007 will be announced on October 26.

Hamilton to Tinkoff?

Tyler Hamilton has been linked with Italian-Russiam professional continental team Tinkoff. Tinkoff earlier signed German rider Danilo Hondo and will anounce their 2007 rooster on Monday.  Team manager Omar Piscina told US based website "velonews.com" : "I have contact with many riders and the Tinkoff team is very interesting to many riders. We have a long list of riders and Tyler Hamilton is among them." He continued with:  "Tyler Hamilton is a great rider and he has ended his problem about the positive case."

Another French rider for Skil-Shimano

Skil-Shimano has signed a third French rider for next season. Young sprinter Fabien Bacquet put his signature to a two-year deal with the Dutch team. This year, the 20-year-old from Soissons in northern France won the classic Dijon-Auxonne-Dijon, the second stage of the Mi-Août Bretonne and the points classification in the Loire Atlantique, a stage race for young riders. Bacquet also made an important contribution to his club CC Nogent-sur-Oise’s win in the Coupe de France for elite riders without contract.

‘I’m very happy to be joining the professionals in 2007. Skil-Shimano offers the ideal platform and facilities for me to develop as a rider and realise my ambitions,’ says Bacquet.

CSC continues their sponshorship with Riis Cycling

Accoring to Danish newsagency "Ritzau" CSC will continue their sponsohship untill the end of 2008. Markus Bjørn Kraft, communications and marketing manager for CSC in Scandinavia  told "Ritzau": ""It is stated in the contract that a rider should be suspended if he is accused of doping, and that he should be fired if he is found guilty. In the case of systematic doping on the team, we can terminate the contract." Kraft denied that CSC will not stop sponsoring the cycling team of former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis: "That is not true. We are not having second thoughts about anything."

The company is statisfied with the way Riis cycling handled the situation with Ivan Basso. Ivan Basso left team CSC last week.

New team for Jörg Ludewig?

Jörg Ludewig who had to leave T-Mobile after the 2006 season might come back in the peloton after all. Ludewig announced on his website that things look bad last month but this week he stated on his website www.joerg-ludewig.com: "i am not givin up yet," Ludwig concluded with: "at the moment it doesn't look bad and i might continue racing. I am an athlete and i want to remain an atlethe!