2019 Tour de France to pay homage to Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx
Belgium will host the start of the Tour de France in 2019 with two stages paying homage to the country's greatest ever cyclist, Eddy Merckx, on the 50th anniversary of his first victory in the race
A gruelling ascent of Belgium's famous Mur de Grammont will form part of the Grand Depart for the 2019 Tour de France as the event marks the 100th anniversary of the maillot jaune. When it comes to the first two stages on July 6 and 7, the iconic Wall of Geraardsbergen climb should take center stage.
On day two there will be a team time trial in the capital city of Brussels, giving the sprinters a chance to make their mark.
It will be the fifth time the race has started in Belgium, with the first stage clocking in at 192 kilometres.
Merckx, nicknamed the Cannibal, won the Tour de France five times from 1969 to 1974, along with five Giro d'Italia, Spain's Vuelta once and a series of one-day classic races, including Belgium's Tour of Flanders.
"I wore the yellow jersey 96 times. It is the best memory of my career. It still gives me goosebumps," Merckx said during Tuesday's presentation of the Grand Depart — the opening weekend of the three-week Tour.
Merckx also won a record 34 Tour stages and is among four riders who won the Tour a record five times. French riders Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, and Spanish great Miguel Indurain are the others.
The first stage on July 6, 2019, will run 192 kilometres (119 miles) out of and back to Brussels. The circuit will include the Mur de Grammont, a steep and narrow cobblestone road, a staple of the Tour of Flanders and part of the route for the Tour de France in 1969. The Wall will come early but the stage, which makes a big loop south of Brussels, is still set up for a sprint finish close to the royal palace.
On its return towards the capital, it will pass the site of the Battle of Waterloo and the Brussels suburb of Woluwe-St-Pierre, where Merckx grew up.
The second stage will be a 28-kilometer team time trial through the Belgian capital along its wide-open boulevards. The riders will also pass by St. Pieters-Woluwe in suburban Brussels, where Merckx lived as a child and where he got to pull on his first yellow jersey.
From Brussels, it is an easy trek south into nearby France for the rest of the race.
This will be the fifth time Belgium has hosted the start and will also mark the mark the 100th anniversary of the yellow jersey worn by the race leader.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said organisers often faced criticism when they choose to start the race outside France, but did not hear a single bad word when Brussels was announced for 2019, "We will depart from the city where was born the greatest champion in cycling history, a man, a runner, who made us shudder, who gave us dreams for our entire life: Eddy," he told a news conference.
Brussels mayor Philippe Close said the event would be an important moment in the relaunch of Brussels, where tourism suffered after Islamist suicide bombers killed 32 people in March 2016.