The Grand Départ of the 2019 Tour de France will take place in Brussels and the organisers have provided some details about the opening two stages with more details of the stages to be provided in January.
The Tour starts on Saturday, July 6 with a stage which will cover roads in both Flanders and Wallonia followed on Sunday by a team time trial in Brussels.
On January 16, the Tour organisers ASO and the City of Brussels will outline the exact stage details with the town of Geraardsbergen hopeful that the riders will have to tackle the Muur van Geraardsbergen on the opening stage.
The Mayor of Geraardsbergen, Guido De Padt, has been involved in the planning for this stage and Greg Van Avermaet has previously expressed his hopes for a typical Flemish finale, rather than a Wallonian climb.
In 1947, the Tour travelled to Brussels for the first time and since then, the Belgian capital has welcomed the Grand Boucle ten times and ten stage finishes have taken place there. Brussels previously hosted the Grand Départ in 1958.
2019 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the first of five victories for Eddy Merckx, the rider with the most stage wins in the race.
