Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Details of 2012 Tour de France Grand Depart announced

Liege Prologue will give Cancellara chance to repeat 2004 Prologue win

Organisers of the Tour de France ASO have unveiled details of the first couple of days’ racing in the 99th edition of the race, which takes place in 2012.

Last month, ASO confirmed that Liège would host the Grand Départ, marking the 19th time that the race has begun outside France, and the Belgian city will also be the first foreign venue to host the start of the race twice.

The last time the race visited the city, which is the capital of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, was in 2004 when Fabian Cancellara won a 6.1km Prologue to take the yellow jersey for the first time of his career.

The Swiss rider, who is expected to join the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project from Team Saxo Bank, has made a habit of taking the opening maillot jaune of the Tour whenever it starts with the short time trial format – he’s done so four times since that 2004 win – and will have no doubt been delighted by the news that the 2012 Prologue will follow the same route.

The 2012 race gets under way a week earlier than the race would usually start, on Saturday 30 June, as a result of the London Olympic Games starting at the end of July.

After the opening day’s Prologue, the first road stage will cover 180km to Seraing, on what should be a flat, sprinter-friendly route.

Stage 2 on Monday 2 July will then take the peloton from the Belgian town on Vise and head off towards a destination that is as yet unknown and will not be officially revealed until the full route of the race is presented next autumn.
 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Latest Comments