DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) The Tour de France calls its start the ”Grand Depart.” This year it feels more like the ”Grand Return.”
Six years after German TV stopped broadcasting cycling’s showpiece event because of a series of doping scandals and three decades after it last rolled off in the country, the Tour opens this weekend with two stages in Duesseldorf.
The race starts Saturday with a mostly flat 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) individual time trial in Duesseldorf that seems tailor made for four-time world champion Tony Martin to grab the yellow jersey in front of his home fans.
Stage 2 on Sunday goes from Duesseldorf to Liege, Belgium.