Tour de France starts in Utrecht

Dutch cyclists ecstatic about 2015 Tour start

Sometimes history repeats itself and sometimes historic events are the prelude to something beautiful. Already the Netherlands is the country where most Tour starts (La grande départ) have taken place and this country will strengthen that lead. In 2015 it will be the sixth time that the Tour de France will start from this small country by the North Sea. And it will take place in Utrecht. It’s a historic success for the city and its inhabitants. JOEP DERKSEN goes back in time and looks at the history of this competition in the Netherlands.

The city of Utrecht is the sixth city where the Tour will start. In 1954, it was Amsterdam that could pride itself of being the first city outside France to give host to la grande départ. After that, the Tour starts in the Netherlands were held, respectively, in Scheveningen (1973), Leiden (1978), Den Bosch (1996) and Rotterdam (2010). With these statistics, the Netherlands beats all other countries in the world as far as the hosting of the Grand Depart is concerned, beating Belgium (4 tour starts), Germany (3), Luxemburg (2) and the United Kingdom 2).

At the time, the 41^st start in 1954 was a huge success. Not in the least because Dutch cyclist Wout Wagtmans won the first stage from Amsterdam to Brasschaat, beating 110 riders from eleven teams. Later on in that race, two other Dutchmen won a tour stage; Wim van Est (stage 4) and Henk Faanhof (stage 9). Ultimate winner was Louison Bobet, who rode the 23 stages, 4,656 kilometer in a total time of 140 hours, 6 minutes and five seconds, with an average speed of 33.229 km/h.

The Tour of 1973 also started with a Dutch winner in the prologue; Joop Zoetemelk, who won the 1980 edition of the Tour de France and became world champion five years after that, at the age of 38. A total of 12 Dutch cyclists participated in the Tour of 1973, but none of them won a Tour stage, except Joop Zoetemelk, who was the strongest in the fourth stage from Reims to Nancy. Overall winner that year was Luis Ocana.

The third time that the Tour started in the Netherlands, it was a big disaster. Therefore, that episode in Tour history is also referred to as ‘La Grande Debacle’. In 1978 the first Tour stage was a prologue in Leiden. It was raining cats and dogs, but Jan Raas was the strongest of them all. However, in that rain, some of the (French) favorites had fallen and lost considerable time. The Tour director, Felix Levitan, decided that the end results of the prologue would not count. It is whispered that another reason for this decision was a disagreement between the Tour organisation and the local volunteers regarding the division of the sponsor money. Raas himself was furious about the decision and he turned all his frustration into energy, winning the first stage – and the famous yellow jersey – the next day. That year, Bernard Hinault won one of his five Tour victories.

The Netherlands had to wait almost twenty years for another Tour start. But in 1996 the Tour came back to this country, starting in Den Bosch. Ultimate winner that year, with an average speed of over 39 kilometers per hour, was Bjarne Riis, who later on admitted that he had used epo. Dutch stage winners were Jeroen Blijlevens (5^th stage), Michael Boogerd (6) and Bart Voskamp (18).

The latest Tour that started in the Netherlands was the 97^th edition and the cyclists gathered in Rotterdam for the first stage. Unfortunately, there were no Dutch successes to be recorded that year. Alberto Contador beat Andy Schleck by 39 seconds to win the overall Tour title. But two years later, it turned out that Contador had used doping (clenbuterol) and the title was taken away from him. In history books, it is Andy Schleck who is now proclaimed the winner.

So in 2015 the Tour de France is returning to its foreign roots and Aleid Wolfsen, mayor of Utrecht, is delighted by this news, he said in NUsport of 8 November. ‘The start of the Tour de France in Utrecht is good for the Netherlands, this city and the sport. It will be a fantastic party and it is a unique feat, especially in these economic times.’ Also Tour director Christian Prudhomme is pleased with Utrecht as starting location, NUsport writes. ‘It is a city that lives with the bike; a university city which matches the Tour perfectly.’

Up to a million visitors are expected to visit Utrecht at the time of the Tour start. All hotels in and near the city will be fully booked for a week. That year, all eyes will be focused on the Dutch riders again. Cyclists such as Lars Boom, a huge talent who can achieve much more victories than he has accomplished so far. Boom looks forward to the 2015 Tour. As a young boy he watched the Tour pass by in his native town Vlijmen and he hopes that he can achieve ultimate glory in 2015.

(Published in The Holland Times, December edition).