PORTE TO OPEN UP IN BRUSSELS
AUSTRALIAN Richie Porte’s bid for a maiden grand tour title will begin in Brussels next year after organisers announced the route for the three-week Tour de France.
The 2019 edition will mark the 50th anniversary of Belgian great Eddy Merckx’s first win of five and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the fabled yellow jersey first worn by Eugene Christophe in 1919.
Despite a promising start to this year’s race in which he won the third-stage time trial, the 33-year-old Australian crashed during the ninth stage for a second consecutive year and was forced out with a broken clavicle.
Porte will have another shot next year with his new team Trek-Segafredo, who he will move to from BMC Racing at the beginning of next season.
It will be the fifth Grand Depart in Belgium and the second in Brussels and Tour de France general director Christian Prudhomme said it was a fitting way to mark the feats of the legendary Merckx.
“When we heard of Brussels’ application for the Tour de France, the idea of Grand Depart soon sprung to mind,” he said. “Brussels, the capital of Belgium, the European capital and Eddy Merckx’s city. We had to start from the city where this man was born. It was obvious.”
The peloton will tackle cob- bles on the Mur de Grammont in the opening loop stage on Saturday July 6, a 192km ride starting and ending in Brussels after visiting Charleroi.
A 27km team time trial takes place in the city the next day. The race then heads into France from Binche to Epernay in a 214km stage three. The route hugs the border with Germany, bringing the Tour to the east of the country after the early stages were along the west coast of France last year.
Riders then head south and into the Pyrenees where a 27km individual time trial will take place in Pau on July 19, the day of the 100-year anniversary of the yellow jersey.
The final rest day will be in Nimes three days later before three Alpine stages which includes the Col d’Iseran, the highest paved road in Europe at 2770m. The winner will likely be decided by the end of Stage 20 on the final 33.4km climb up to Val Thorens.