London 2012: Surrey Tour de France bid

Surrey has been the epicentre of world cycling in the past few days, the county council said

A bid could be made to bring a stage of the Tour de France to Surrey after the county hosted the Olympic road cycle race and cycling time trials.

Surrey County Council leader David Hodge said the local authority was looking at putting a bid together after the county's success this week.

Huge crowds lined the streets to watch medal winners Bradley Wiggins, Lizzie Armitstead and Chris Froome.

Wiggins won gold in the men's time trial event on Wednesday.

Mr Hodge said: "Surrey has been the epicentre of world cycling over the past few days, cementing the county's reputation as a world-class place to ride.

'History on doorstep'

"We're looking at putting together a bid to host a stage of the Tour de France to build on the success of the Olympic cycle races."

He said Surrey would also be welcoming elite cycling back to Surrey in September when the county hosted a stage of the Tour de Britain.

The cycle road race on the opening weekend of the Olympics took cyclists from the Mall, through west London, out to Surrey and back again, and included a 9.6-mile (15.5km) circuit around Box Hill.

On Wednesday, the riders in the time trials started at Hampton Court Palace before heading south over Hampton Court Bridge and into Elmbridge and passing through several towns and villages.

These included Thames Ditton, Weston Green, Esher, Hersham and Cobham as well as Kingston and Richmond.

The Surrey sections of the events required 42 miles of roadside barriers, 5,000 cones, 4,000 road signs and 545 road closures, along with 6,000 stewards, volunteers and workers.

Mr Hodge said all roads reopened either ahead of schedule or on time after more than two years of preparation to ensure everything ran smoothly.

He said: "Thanks to everyone's efforts disruption was kept to a minimum and we showed Surrey off to the world."

He said the county had helped Team GB's medal winners create Olympic history on our doorsteps.

Alongside the gold medal won by Wiggins, Froome claimed a bronze in the cycling time trials and Armitstead won Britain's first medal of the 2012 Olympics, taking silver in the women's road race on day two.