No sooner were the details for the 2016 Tour de France unveiled during a ceremony earlier this week in Paris, talk of Germany hosting the 2017 French Grand Tour are already being bandied about.
Since London decided to pull out of its bid for 2017, rumors of a Grand Depart in Dusseldorf are widely being discussed.
“Germany is a very important country in Europe. There is a lot of enthusiasm. We are working with several different cities on a return to Germany and I hope that it will become reality,” Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme told DPA.
“Dusseldorf is known as a sports city. I would be delighted if the Tour de France were to come to this city of sport. It would be nice to experience something like that in my career,” said Greipel.
Three-time World Champion Tony Martin, says he welcomes a Grand Depart in his native country.
‘The hope and wishful thinking is there. It would be awesome for German cycling, the fans and for me of course.”
The Tour de France last visited Germany in 2005 with both a stage start in Pforzheim and a stage finish in Karlsruhe. However, it’s been almost thirty years since the country last hosted a Grand Depart, which took place in West Berlin.
Prior to that, the Tour got underway in Cologne in 1965 and in Frankfurt in 1980.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
