2010 Tour To Start In Rotterdam

Organisers of the Tour de France have announced that the 2010 cycling race will begin from the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

Rotterdam lodged a bid to host the start of the 2010 event, along with neighbour Utrecht, following London’s successful staging of Le Grand Depart in 2007.

A Tour statement said the choice would promote inner-city cycling, adding that Rotterdam ‘adheres perfectly to the route we imagine for the 2010 Tour’.

The 97th Tour begins on 3 July 2010, with more details to be released in December.

The Tour de France last started from the Netherlands in 1996, when it began in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.