"Attention! Le Tour de France!" Start planning your Monday off work now...


With less than 20 days to go till the 101st Tour de France races through town, Transport for London are stepping up their efforts to persuade people to plan their journeys ahead with a magnificent poster campaign.


Their "Attention! Le Tour de France!" posters were conceived by advertising agency M&C Saatchi (who pioneered the "Get Ahead of the Games" concept in the run up to the 2012 Olympics) and show cyclists wearing the colours of London's transport lines, with the famous Transport for London "roundel" for wheels.  The striking art works are appearing at train stations, bus stops and in print media in a bid to encourage people to think about planning their journeys in advance for Monday July 7th.

There will be significant road disruption around the Mall, Embankment, Canary Wharf, City Airport and the London Olympic Park on the 7th, with stations in the area busy with spectators too.  With rolling road closures from 10AM lasting in to the early evening, the particularly busy cycle routes along the Mall and Embankment are especially likely to be closed or restricted, so cyclists should also consider alternative routes.


I've loved seeing these colourful posters around and being reminded that our city is about to host one of the most exciting sporting events in the world, and I think they're likely to become poster design classics.  You can buy copies for yourself at the excellent London Transport Museum shop here and here.

Want our advice for a cracking Tour de France day in London? As well as being able to line the route for free, a series of free Fan Parks containing entertainment, refreshments, bike parking and very big screens will be showing all the action live in Green Park, Trafalgar Square and Canary Wharf.  See details here.  Times the race will pass certain points along the route can also be found here.

Start planning your Tour de France long weekend now!

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3 comments:

GreenComotion said...

Although I don't follow bicycle races, I like the posters. Very nice!

Peace :)

Anonymous said...

Tour de France, a race of drug users.

ibikelondon said...

@Chandra I really like these posters too - they are so colourful and eye-catching when you see them around town. Transport for London has a long history of creating beautiful posters which make up a magnificent archive.

@anonymous Yes there are terrible problems with substance abuse in cycling (as indeed with many sports) but I think the industry has done a lot to improve in recent years. Britain's 1st TdF winner, Sir Bradley Wiggins, is famously vocally anti-doping.