Starting point of the 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2017 is the Tonhalle embankment on which the Village has been erected for the guests of honor and partners of the Tour de France. On July 2, 2017 the teams will be cycling via the Joseph Beuys embankment toward the Burgplatz where they will officially register and present themselves to the spectators. The neutralization kick-off, a slow cycling-in of the competitors, will take place here. The eight-kilometers long neutralization extends through the old quarters of the city toward Medienhafen and is a unique opportunity for the spectators to experience the cyclists up-close.
At the Living Bridge spanning the dock the team of cyclists will stop for an official ceremony before continuing on through the Düsseldorf inner city and getting on their marks for the official kick-off in Fischerstraße. The cycling team will pick up the route from here.
After the first flat kilometers through the state capital the route continues upward toward the Galopp race tracks- at the Grafenberger Wald the pros will compete for the first points for the polka dot jersey 2017. From Grafenberg the track leads through Gerresheim and the city of Erkrath. Finally, the 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2017 meanders through the Neandertal upward toward Mettmann, before the cyclists traverse Ratingen and get back to Düsseldorf from there. This is a novelty in the Tour de France, as it is the first time that a stage leads out of the starting line city and leads back to it again.
The Rhine river is then crossed via the Theodor Heuss Bridge into the urban district of Oberkassel. At route kilometer 52 the cyclists leave the Düsseldorf urban area again and arrive at Neuss through the Rhine district of Neuss, via Meerbusch. The team traverses the Neuss inner city, arriving at the bastion of cycling in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Kaarst-Büttgen.
On the following route from Korschenbroich toward Mönchengladbach via the L 381 the teams prepare for the first sprint classification of the Tour de France 2017, which will be made at kilometer 83 in the Mönchengladbach city center.
Through the district of Heinsberg, past the strip mine Garzweiler 1 the cyclists arrive in the district of Düren at the historical town of Jülich, which from 1794 until 1814 was part of French territory in the Département de la Roer,as well as the municipalities of Titz and Aldenhoven.
After the urban region of Aachen with the cities of Alsdorf and Würselen, the Cathedral City of Aachen is the last German city through which the cyclists of the Tour de France 2017 pass through. Via the B264 the cycling pros will then cross the German-Belgian border. They will compete on Belgian soil in the last 51 kilometers of the stage toward the destination of the 2nd stage: Liège.
Map of the 2nd stage
The second stage of the Tour de France 2017 starts in Düsseldorf and, after a circuit through the towns of Erkrath, Mettmann and Ratingen, passes through the state capital again. From here, it then proceeds through the region to Mönchengladbach, where sprint points will be awarded, and on further to the Cathedral City of Aachen, the last German station. This 203.5 kilometre long stage ends in Liège. You will find the complete route within the Düsseldorf area on the online map.
The second stage of the Tour de France 2017 starts in Düsseldorf and, after a circuit through the towns of Erkrath, Mettmann and Ratingen, passes through the state capital again. From here, it then proceeds through the region to Mönchengladbach, where sprint points will be awarded, and on further to the Cathedral City of Aachen, the last German station. This 203.5 kilometre long stage ends in Liège. You will find the complete route within the Düsseldorf area on the online map.
