Under the headline "God Save le Tour!" the paper said that the weekend focus would be firmly on the London area with the Tour prologue in the city streets, the closing stages of Wimbledon and the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at nearby Silverstone on Sunday.

It ran a closeup shot of top French cycle hope Christophe Moreau clad in French colours speeding past the Big Ben clock tower.

It will be the first time that the Tour de France has started from London although it is not uncommon for the race to get going outside of France.

Continuing with the British theme, the L'Equipe front page also celebrated the big Wimbledon tennis wins for Marion Bartoli (defeated Justine Henin) and Richard Gasquet (defeated Andy Roddick) with the headline "Wonderful Marion, Fabulous Richard."

L'Equipe reproduced the front page inside it's Saturday edition, but this time returning to the French language.