TOUR DE FRANCE
Tour de France honours Merckx with 2019 Brussels Grand Depart
Fifty years on from the first of Eddy Merckx's five Tour de France wins, the Grand Depart will take part in Brussels.
The Grand Depart of the 2019 Tour de France will take place in Brussels in honour of the iconic Eddy Merckx, race organisers announced on Tuesday.
Merckx has won the Tour a joint-record five times and 50 years on from his first triumph the event will commence in the capital city of his homeland Belgium.
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The 2019 event will also mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of the yellow jersey.
German start in 2017
This year's edition will commence in Dusseldorf, with the following Grand Depart occurring in the Vendee in the Pays de la Loire region of France.
Brussels was the first European capital to be visited by the Tour in 1947.