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Tour de France 2017 returns to Germany after 30 years

By Editor
22 December 2015   |   11:38 pm
The Tour de France will return to Germany, in Düsseldorf, for the first time in 30 years to start its race in 2017.
cyclist-Image source gavlaaar

cyclist-Image source gavlaaar

The Tour de France will return to Germany, in Düsseldorf, for the first time in 30 years to start its race in 2017.

Organiser ASO yesterday that more details will be available at a press conference on January 14.

Tuesday morning morning, the organiser wrote on Twitter, “Grand Départ 2017: Düsseldorf #TDF2017” to break the news that had been rumoured for the last months.

“The Grand Départ is a huge opportunity for Düsseldorf – for our city marketing, the Sportscity Düsseldorf and Düsseldorf as a cycling friendly community,” said Mayor Thomas Geisel.

“It is an honour for the German sports nation when the world wide biggest sports event in 2017 will start in Düsseldorf. I am confident that the entire Tour de France will be broadcasted live on German TV.”

London, which beat Edinburgh and Manchester to host the Grand Départ, pulled its bid in September and put the fashion and art city on the Rhine River in pole position for the 2017 Tour start.

>>> BBC report reveals how close the 2017 Tour de France came to starting in London
Düsseldorf decided in a narrow 40-39 vote bid for the grand tour in November. It reportedly was up against Münster and Mannheim, and the Saarland state, to win over ASO.

It is the first time for Germany to see off the three-week French grand tour since West Berlin in 1987.

SO said today that on January 14 it would host two press conferences, first in Paris and then in Düsseldorf, to detail its plan. A Grand Départ typically runs four to five days.

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