2019 Tour de France: Stage 1 preview

Stage 1: Brussels-Brussels
Date: July 6, 2019
Distance: 192km
Stage type: Flat 

The Tour relishes an anniversary, and this edition has got two very significant ones to glory in: the centenary of the yellow jersey and the 50th anniversary of the first victory taken by Eddy Merckx, the record-holder for days in the maillot jaune. Inevitably, the opening stage goes big on both. Starting in Merckx's home city of Brussels, 61 years on from the Belgian capital's first hosting of the Grand Départ, it initially heads west into Classics country, heading through Ninove, for so long the finish point of the Tour of Flanders, to tackle what used to be the Ronde's final two climbs, the Muur at Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg.

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