Tour de France 2019 will pay tribute to Eddy Merckx

The great start of the Tour de France 2019 will have two stages in Brussels and will pay tribute to the legendary Eddy Merckx, 50 years after the first of his five victories in the race, announced Christian Prudhomme, the race director, on Tuesday.

"It was important to start from the city of the champion who has worn the yellow jersey the most times (111 occasions)", said Prudhomme, emphasizing that in 2019 the centenary of the creation of the famous garment will be celebrated.

A 192-kilometer flat stage that favors the sprinters will inaugurate the great race on July 6th, starting from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts.

Then the cyclists will race through the Belgian capital, Flanders and Wallonia, a route of 192 kilometers that will have the mythical Muur van Geraardsbergen as the first mountainous difficulty, a symbol of the Tour of Flanders.

But the finish will be favorable to time trialists and sprinters, with a false flat of two kilometers at 3/4 percent, according to the explanations of the race director Thierry Gouvenou. The finish line will be installed at the entrance of the Royal Palace.

The next day, a 28-kilometer team time trial will unite the Royal Palace and the Atomium, a tribute to Merckx and his historic Faema team.

"The route will be urban, with beautiful and long avenues, and false flats that go up and down", said Gouvenou.

On July 29th, 1969, thanks to the victory of the Belgian-Italian formation, the 'Cannibal' won his first yellow jersey, in his hometown, in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, where his parents had a grocery store. It was his first participation in the race.

"The 1969 Tour is the most beautiful memory of my career. It had been thirty years since a Belgian had won the Tour, it was a childhood dream come true", declared Merckx, 72 years old, who received a heartfelt ovation from all attendees in the Royal Museums at the presentation of the start.

"The route passes through places where I have lived", emphasized the Belgian legend.

"Eddy is a person of great generosity, just like when he raced", said Prudhomme.

The Tour will depart from a foreign country for the 23rd time. Brussels already hosted the start of the Grande Boucle in 1958.

According to the Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close, the city authorities have released a budget of five million euros to host an event that should bring together one million people.