On 8 November it became official: the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2015 will take place in Utrecht in The Netherlands. Tomorrow, all details will be presented but the firt bits of informations already started to become available.
At the occasion of the official presentation of the Grand Départ tomorrow, the city of Utrecht will become yellow ...
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The first rumours about the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2015: Utrecht .. and then?
So far, we only knew the place where the riders and followers of the Tour will gather together: Utrecht in The Netherlands.After the official announcement we however already discovered, thanks to the explanation given by the mayor of the Dutch city, that the Tour de France 2015 will start with a time trial in the streets of the city, but it was unknown what would be the destination of the second stage the next day.
Omroep Zeeland discovered yesterday that a big number of hotel rooms has been booked everywhere around the province of Zealand. It is thus almost sure that on Sunday 5 July 2015, the second stage of the Tour de France 2015 will bring the riders from the city Utrecht to a city in the coast province and that the stage start the next day will also be in this same province.
A few big cities in this province - which ASO knows quite well of the World Ports Classic since the stage between Rotterdam and Antwerp visits this quite a lot - are Middelburg, Goes, Vlissingen, Terneuzen, Zierikzee and Burgh-Haamstede. Watching a map and having as a reminder the explanations given by the mayor of Utrecht indicating that the second stage would visit the roads in and around his city, the city Middelburg seems to be ideally located. The city however received the Giro d'Italia in 2010 and it is thus difficult to know whether the city will again be interested in the organisation of a Grand Tour finish. The city has the experience of those kind of events so it definitely has its arguments. From Middelburg, the third stage would also have a quite original start location for a stage towards Belgium for example ... But this could of course also be a city like Vlissingen or Goes!
This is thus what the start of the race route might look like:
1/ Saturday 4 July 2015 - Utrecht > Utrecht
2/ Sunday 5 July 2015 - Utrecht > city in the province of Zealand (maybe Middelburg?)
3/ Monday 6 July 2015 - city in the province of Zealand (maybe Middelburg?) > (city in Belgium?)
We'll get to know more tomorrow morning at 9.00AM during the press conference about this Grand Départ, at the residence of the Ambassador of The Netherlands in Paris.
Utrecht turns to yellow
In the "Winkel van Sinkel", a similar press conference to the one in the morning in Paris will take place in Utrecht at 4.30PM. It will be streamed live on YouTube and Utrecht already announced that it will present the race route of the two stages in Utrecht, as well as the location of the teams presentation on Thursday 2 July 2015.
The city then becomes yellow and celebrates the venue of the Tour de France with a big public party, with the name La nuit du Tour Utrecht starting at 7PM on the Domplein. From 10PM in the "Winkel van Sinkel" the public will find the famous DJ "Bakermat", also known abroad for example with Vandaag (you probably know that song with the texts "I still have a dream", "One day, this nation will rise up, ..."). This DJ, born in Utrecht, will continue the party until 11PM. The "Winkel van Sinkel" is open to the public from 9.30PM, entry is free but the number of places is limited ...
source photos: La nuit du Tour Utrecht - Le Tour Utrecht / bridge in Zealand - Frans de Wit door Thomas Vergouwen
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3 comments | 7123 views
this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2015
by Derek over 
by Tami over 
by Bernard over
Goes en Middelburg zijn zeker grote kanshebbers. Vlissingen ontbeert financien voor dit evenement. Daarnaast schijnt tourdirectie ook zeer geinteresseerd te zijn in finish op Neeltje Jans (=stormvloedkering) of op de Brouwersdam.
Voor startplaats zou, naast Goes en Middelburg, Terneuzen wel eens in aanmerking kunnen komen.
In de Belgische pers wordt Middelkerke nadrukkelijk genoemd (en het gemeentebestuur lobbyt al geruime tijd) als start- of aankomst plaats van een Touretappe. Afgaande van de Tour in Zeeland lijkt dit zeker een grote optie.
Het zou mooi zijn als de Mont Ventoux weer wordt opgenomen in het etappeschema. Van Domtoren naar witte toren op de kale berg. Utrecht is namelijk ook de thuishaven van de website www.dekaleberg.nl.