yEday the 104th Tour de France was officially presented at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. For the fourth time in the Tour history the Grand Départ will take place in Germany, the race kicks off on July 1 in Düsseldorf. The Tour will also visit Belgium with a finish in Liège on Sunday July 2 and a start in Verviers a day later.

Lotto Soudal manager Marc Sergeant and Tony Gallopin attended the presentation. What’s their first impression of the route?

Marc Sergeant said: 

“At first sight this Tour might seem not very spectacular, but it promises to be a very open race with stages for every type of rider. There are several stages that could surprise us. It’s possible that unexpected names will turn up to determine the race. Because of the low number of summit finishes the GC riders won’t get a chance to make a decisive move every day. It’s a Tour for sprinters and attackers. With a rider like André Greipel in the team we can only be happy with so many sprint stages. We also have riders in our team who can win after an attack, like Thomas De Gendt and Tony Gallopin. There are other riders in the team with the potential to perform well on this course too, but it’s too early to talk about selections.”

Tony Gallopin said: 

“It’s a very beautiful and complete route next year. There are stages for all kinds of riders: sprinters, punchers and climbers. The Tour has included all French mountain ranges into the route, also the Jura which I know very well. There are several beautiful and tough stages. It will be another type of race every day.”