The 2015 edition of the Tour de France will kick off with an unusually long time trial as the first wearer of the yellow jersey will be determined on a pancake-flat 13,7km flat course in Utrecht. The next day will start from the same city and could finish in the windy Zeeland province.

A few weeks ago, Tour de France organizers ASO revealed that the 2015 edition of La Grande Boucle will start in the Dutch city of Utrecht. At a ceremony today, the layout of the first stage and the first part of the second was presented.

The 2013 and 2014 editions of the French race both have a flat opening stage and so offer a rare chance for the sprinters to wear the first yellow jersey of the race. In 2015, the cards will be back in the hands of the time trialists as the race will kick off with an unusually long time trial.

A 13.7 km pancake-flat course entirely within the city will decide who gets to wear the first yellow jersey of the 2015 Tour. The next day, the peloton will congregate in front of Utrecht's Exhibition Centre for the start of the first road race stage but it has not been disclosed where the stage will finish.

The time trialists will be happy to finally get another chance to take the yellow jersey after two consecutive years with limited options. The absence of an opening time trial was one of the reasons for Fabian Cancellara to skip this year's event while world champion Tony Martin has made it one of his career targets to wear the coveted yellow tunic at some point in his career. When the race last kicked off with a race against the clock, Cancellara won the stage held in Liege while Martin suffered an untimely puncture.

2015 will be the second consecutive year with a start outside of France which will be a first for the French grand tour. It will be the sixth time that the race starts in the Netherlands and the connection was marked at today's ceremony when former Dutch Tour winners Jan Janssen and Joop Zoetemelk joined Bernard Hinault on a train ride from Paris to Utrecht.

"The Netherlands is a cycling nation, one which has written quite a few remarkable chapters of the history of the Tour de France," race director Christian Prudhomme said. "Utrecht's main attraction was the way it's integrated cycling into its day-to-day life. Its natural and palpable relationship with cycling is quite simply an inspiration".

While the finishing town of the second stage remains a secret, Sport.be reports that it is likely to finish in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The area is known for its very windy conditions and split the peloton to pieces when the Giro d'Italia visited it in 2010. The first stage of the 2010 Tour passed through the province on a stage that started in Rotterdam and finished in Bruxelles and was won by Alessandro Petacchi.

Since 2002, a local committee has tried to get a stage start or finish in the area but were left disappointed in 2010 when they missed out on the opportunity. This time they may have had more luck as Sport.be reports that ASO has booked 1000 hotel rooms for Sunday July 5, 2015, the date for the second stage of the race.

The entire route will be unveiled at a ceremony in October.