Date: Saturday, July 5
Distance: 185km
Start location: Lille
Finish location: Lille
Start time: 13:10 CEST
Finish time: 17:36 CEST (approx)
After three successive overseas starts — the longest run of foreign Grand Départs in the race’s history — Tour de France will set off from home roads again this year, in the bustling town of Lille. Yet this might not quite be as much of a homecoming as it appears. Historically, Lille has been more associated with the region across the Belgian border than anywhere in its official home of France, as the traditional capital of ‘French Flanders.’ Flemish might never have been the spoken language here, but, formerly part of the Habsburg Spanish Netherlands, it’s long been integral to their cultural heritage. In fact, it took until 1667, when Louis XIV successfully besieged the city during the War of Devolution, for Lille to become absorbed into the Kingdom of France — and it has remained a part of the nation ever since, as an industrial powerhouse specialising in textiles and mechanics during the nineteenth century, to the lively student centre it is today.
The town’s Flemish heritage can be felt in its architecture, characterised by red bricks and sloping roofs, and exemplified by the grand buildings found in the Place du Général-de-Gaulle town square, as well as the nearby La Vieille Bourse stock exchange. And the staple dish here of moules-frites (mussels and chips) is also quintessentially Flemish, and accompanied not with wine, but rather a beer — ideally a Belgian one.
Frites and beer will be a familiar indulgence to anyone who has ever attended and mingled with the crowds at one of the Belgian spring classics, and indeed, upon leaving Lille, the parcours of this opening stage also shares some familiar-looking roads to those races. The second of the day’s three small, categorised climbs, Mont Cassel, is cobbled; and the third, Mont Noir, is right on the Belgian border. However, for this stage to have been one for the punchers and rouleurs who excel during the spring, there would have to have been much more than just the three tackled today.
Instead, this is one for the sprinters, as was the case the last time a Tour stage finished in Lille eleven years ago, won by Marcel Kittel. And there isn’t just a stage win on offer for the victor, but also a yellow jersey, a precious opportunity that could, for some, be a once-in-career shot. Traditionally an opening time trial…