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Lloyd Warbey backs school competitions to celebrate the Tour de France coming to London 

• The Tour de France, the world’s largest annual sporting event, returns to London on Monday 7 July 2014
• School children across London are invited to get involved and take part in four Tour de France art competitions  

To celebrate the world’s greatest cycling race returning to the capital on Monday 7 July, Lloyd Warbey, presenter of Disney’s Art Attack, and Transport for London (TfL) are calling on school children across London to take inspiration from the world’s best cyclists rolling through the city’s streets and get arty.  

The capital’s students are being challenged to craft cycling creations in four separate competitions:

• Students aged between 7 and 11 are being asked to design a banner and a cycling jersey. The winning banner design will be displayed at the Tour de France Fan Parks and the winning jersey design will be printed onto a jersey for the artist to keep
• Students aged between 11 and 14 are being asked to submit their designs for a cycling poster. The winning design will be displayed in secondary schools in London
• Students aged between 7 and 14 are being asked to design a piece of artwork which could include land art or a sculpture

The winning piece will be brought to life and displayed at key landmarks across London.  

Lloyd Warbey, presenter of Disney’s Art Attack, said: “As a born and bred Londoner, I am thoroughly excited about the great Tour de France coming to the capital on Monday 7 July, and the chance to be involved with the Tour and children’s art was one I could not turn down. I’m looking forward to seeing the best cycling art London’s pedalling Picassos have to offer.”   

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL, said: “The inspirational Tour de France returns to London on Monday 7 July and will encourage Londoners and visitors to experience the capital on two wheels. Lloyd has seen some really big art attacks and I cannot wait to see how these competitions will provoke the artistic talent of London’s youngsters.”  

The winners of each competition will be judged by a panel, including Lloyd, and will win a range of fantastic prizes to inspire and encourage more cycling including cycling equipment, official Tour de France merchandise, framed artwork and the chance to have the art displayed at London landmarks and City Hall.

For information on how to enter, go to http://www.staccreditation.org.uk/school/cycling.php.

All four competitions close on Friday 30 May 2014.  

The Tour de France – the world’s largest annual sporting event - comes to London on Monday 7 July after two stages in Yorkshire.

Around 200 elite cyclists will travel from Cambridge, through Essex, into London before a spectacular finish on The Mall. The iconic Tour de France will draw people onto the streets of London from near and far, and help to inspire more people to take up cycling.   A detailed map of the Tour de France Stage 3 route, along with more information about the event, can be found at www.tfl.gov.uk/tourdefrance .   

• Lloyd Warbey stars in Disney’s Art Attack. Art Attack is a unique and inspirational Arts and Craft show designed to spark imagination and creativity, with broad appeal that encourages self expression and individuality, demonstrating to children of all abilities that anyone can be an artist. More information on Art Attack can be found at http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-junior/art-attack
• TfL is undertaking an extensive programme of public engagement and communication for the arrival of the Tour de France. It 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 and schools, local business engagement events and public information sessions
• The Mayor is committed to ensuring London retains its status as the world capital of sport, and has recently set up the Major Events Oversight Board. The board is chaired by Sir Edward Lister, and comprises of TfL, the emergency services and other key partner agencies. It provides strategic direction and advice to the Mayor on 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 everyone gets full benefit from the event without undue impact on Londoners and London’s transport. The board also looks at ways to ensure the major events programme is effectively communicated with Londoners, visitors, businesses and stakeholders to allow sufficient notice and forward planning for everyone
• The detailed Tour de France route is available on the TfL website at tfl.gov.uk/tourdefrance. In early summer the website will be updated to include a full list of road closures and timings. 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, Londoners are advised to check before they travel at tfl.gov.uk and follow @TfLTravelAlerts (Tube, DLR and London Overground), @TfLTrafficNews (roads) and @TfLBusAlerts (buses)
• Spectators will be able to watch the elite cycling action along the route and also at the official Tour de France fan parks sites. The fan park sites will feature a wide range of different activities such as live Tour de France racing on the big screen, 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. Team London volunteers will also be on hand at all of the fan park sites to help spectators with local travel information and directions. Tube and rail services will be the best way to get around affected areas of London on the day, although stations along and around the route, particularly the finish at the Mall, are expected to be extremely busy
• The Tour de France will kick off a spectacular summer of cycling in London, with the exciting event followed by Prudential RideLondon on the 9 and 10 August and then the Tour of Britain, which traditionally finishes in the capital, taking place between 7 and 14 September.   ·
• 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. There will be 190 countries broadcasting 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
• 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
• 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/vi sion-for-cycling
• STARS (Sustainable Travel: Active, Responsible, Safe) is Transport for London’s (TfL) school travel plan accreditation scheme. It rewards schools for their engagement with the school community and for carrying out initiatives which result in more pupils and staff travelling sustainably to school. For further competitions and updates on the cycling events taking place this summer visit, www.staccreditation.org.uk