No guarantees that Tour de France will be clean

LONDON (Reuters) - Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme conceded on Tuesday he could not guarantee a drug-free race when this year's event starts in London for the first time on July 7.

Prudhomme appeared alongside the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to talk about how the race would boost tourism, promote cycling and showcase London and Kent where the prologue and first stage will be held.

However, with last year's winner Floyd Landis still battling against a positive doping test and 1996 champion Bjarne Riis admitting taking the blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin), Prudhomme faced a barrage of questions about the sport's integrity.

"You can take the Tour de France seriously because we have the real will to fight the doping problem," he replied.

"I cannot guarantee it will be completely clean but I can say that doping is the enemy of cycling and the Tour and that we are doing everything we can to combat it.

"Cycling is not alone when it comes to doping. We don't have all the cheats in our sport and though we have been harmed we cannot always be looking back.

"Landis gave us a new hero but 48 hours later he was out. Now a new hero will arrive.

"The Tour is coming to London for the first time, it will be a showpiece event in a wonderful city for millions of people to enjoy and it is much more than just a sporting competition."

Livingstone, who said he would try to get the Tour back in London as soon as possible, said he expected the event to give a real boost to cycling in the capital.

"The British capital's power and prestige will make the 2007 Tour stand out from all those that have preceded it."