The 2019 Tour de France will begin in Brussels, with the Grand Depart expected to include an opening road race stage visiting both Flanders and Wallonne as a sign of Belgian unity. Stage 2 will be a team time trial in Brussels, according to a report published by Het Nieuwsblad.
The Brussels Grand Depart was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Eddy Merckx's first overall victory. However his presence is still in doubt after a fall-out with race organiser ASO over the running of the Tour of Oman.
The mayor of Geraardsbergen, in the heart of Flanders, has been lobbying hard in the hope that the legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen – so often used in the Tour of Flanders, will host the finish of stage 1. Greg van Avermaet has backed that plan, however ASO also organise Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the Wallonne part of Belgium, and so may have other ideas and may be under pressure from the French-speaking part of the country.
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Full details of the 2019 Tour de France Grand Depart will be revealed on January 16.
Brussels has welcomed the Tour de France on 10 occasions, and hosted the Grand Depart in 1958. It first hosted a stage finish in 1947, when Rene Vietto won stage 3, and the race returned in 1949, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992 and, most recently, 2010 when Alessandro Petacchi won stage 2 in a sprint.
With the Vendée in France hosting the start of the 2018 edition, the current trend of the Grand Depart taking place in a foreign city every other year is maintained.
No Merckx, no party?
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