Tour de France organisers expect stage finish in London at 2014 edition be biggest single-day attendance in history The race is visiting Britain for a "Yorkshire" grand départ next summer and Telegraph Sport understands that Stage Three, on Monday July 7, will start in Cambridge and head south to London before making a circuit of the Olympic Park in east London and ultimately finishing on the Mall in central London, with Buckingham Palace as a backdrop. The finish will be the same one used for the Olympic road races last summer. With no Surrey Hills to encourage a breakaway, there is every indication that the stage will be perfectly suited to the sprinters, in particular Britain's Mark Cavendish whose untainted successes have helped sustain the Tour during the doping controversies that rage on. The Tour's organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation, will look to take in all the major central London landmarks during the Monday stage. With the race heading into the capital via its northern suburbs, the potential for workers to take an hour or so off work to swell the crowds is massive. More than a million spectators watched the prologue in central London at the 2007 départ and Kent Police estimated that 1.5 million were on the roadside the following day for stage two to Canterbury. However, ASO believe the figure for stage three of next year's Tour could be 2.5 million, which would comfortably be the biggest crowd in the race's history. ASO have brought the race back to Britain to maximise the crowd potential, something race director Christian Prudhomme, who attended all the Olympic road cycling events in London last summer, was happy to acknowledge when he announced Leeds as the grand départ city last month. Away from the showpiece London stage, ASO, who famously leave their decisions as late as possible, are playing their cards close to their chest but it is understood that in broad terms Stage One, which will start in Leeds, will take in the North York Moors and finish at Scarborough although there are concerns over whether the sea front is big enough to accommodate the crowds. Hull, much further to the south, has been touted as an alternative finish town. Historic and photogenic, York played a large part in winning the Tour bid and is expected to host the start of stage two, which will take the riders westwards into the Dales, recently voted as England's premier cycling spot. The peloton will probably then move south towards a convenient finish for the transfer to Cambridge. Sheffield, on the motorway network, would seem the strongest contender with Doncaster as an outside bet. ASO will announce their decisions in Paris on Thursday morning before officials fly to Leeds to elaborate on their choices at a press conference and Tour launch in the city centre.