Berlin has the nightlife, the marathon, the Philharmonic and Pride. Hamburg had the Beatles. Munich the football team. If Düsseldorf, the ninth-biggest city in Germany and not even the largest in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, was in search of a selling point beyond the fashion industry and altbier, it now has one: the Grand Départ of the Tour de France.
The opening stage of the 2017 race will be a short-distance time trial which is longer than the once-traditional Prologue that used to kick off the Tour, but also short enough at 14km to keep the riders well within the city's bounds. It starts and finishes in the north of Düsseldorf, at the Messe exhibition centre, with the flat route following the curve of the river Rhine south towards the city centre. There's not even a corner until four kilometres in, when the race crosses the river, dips south again, then crosses back, past the Rheinturm Tower with its famous digital clock display reminding the riders what is at stake, and towards Altstadt, the old town, which is known as the 'longest bar in the world', thanks to its many bars. The telegenic loop of Düsseldorf's cityscape complete, the route finds the river again to head back to the Messe.
Route profile
Route map
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