1st Stage, Saturday, July 1st
1st Stage, Saturday, July 1st
On Saturday, July 1, 2017, the Tour de France 2017 will start with a 14-kilometer individual time trial through downtown Düsseldorf. The riders will start at Messe Düsseldorf and ride alongside the Rhine River. They will pass by the Ehrenhof cultural center and sprint across Oberkasseler Bridge to Oberkassel on the left bank of the Rhine.
With a view of the Rheinturm telecommunications tower and the NRW State Parliament, they will go back across the Rheinkniebrücke bridge, past MedienHafen toward the central city. The quest for the best time will continue along Königsallee, a famous shopping street. At the end of the "Kö," the course passes by the Triton Fountain and switches to Heinrich-Heine-Allee before going back to the Rhine embankment, passing the Deutsche Oper.
Then comes the home stretch - 3.3 km along the Rhine and back to the Messe - an ideal stretch where the time-trial competitors can vie for the first yellow jersey. The length of the time trial also gives spectators an early preview of the riders' form for the overall classification.
