Stage 1 - Rotterdam > > > Bruxelles - 223.5 km
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Mountain Passes & Hills
(None)
(Graphics - letour.com)
Stage 1 - Rotterdam > > > Bruxelles - 223.5 km
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Mountain Passes & Hills
(None)
Stage 1 - Rotterdam > > > Bruxelles - 223.5 km
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Plain - A sporting perspective
Mind the gaps
The finish of the first stage of this Tour is in Brussels. Why Brussels? To celebrate the 65th birthday of Eddy Merckx and everything he has given to cycling. We will be crossing the Flanders region and will enter Belgium via Antwerp. The finish of this completely flat stage will take place in front of the Roi Baudouin stadium. It is difficult to envisage anything else than a sprint finish. However, it should be noted that there could be side winds, which could cause breaks in the pack, leading to gaps. The riders will have to be watchful.
(letour.com)
June 27 post:
The first road stage begins where the prologue left off in Rotterdam with a second crossing of the Erasmus bridge (Erasmusbrug).
From Rotterdam, the stage heads south for a brief tour of the Dutch coastline -- the same windswept coastline that shattered the field during stage 3 of this year's Giro d'Italia. Stage 1 of the Tour de France heads inland where as the Giro continued down the coast to Middleburg so strong winds along the coast will not affect this stage as much. The inland portion of the route will head through Flanders, home to one of the monuments of cycling, Tour of Flanders. Tom Boonen says the roads inland towards Bussels will be "narrow and hectic" and that this stage will be important to the Belgian guys.
After a very flat 224 km stage with no KOMs, there is a bump before the race finishes in front of the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels to celebrate Eddy Merckx's 65th birthday. Merckx, considered the greatest cyclist of all-time, was born east of Brussels in the small Belgian town of Meensel-Kiezegem on June 17, 1945 just one month after the end of World War II. The route will pass through Meise, 10 km before the finish, where he currently lives.
The first sprint finish of the Tour is always a chaotic, nervous affair for the overzealous peloton. — Steve
The Stage 1 profile looks like it sets up for sprint finish, but the route will pass the same stretch of windswept Holland coastline that shattered the field during Stage 3 of this past Giro d'Italia.
(steephill.tv)
The Stage starts at 11:20 AM local time (Rotterdam is 6 hrs ahead of US EDT).
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