The 2nd stage of the Tour de France starts in Düsseldorf today

Today, on Sunday, 2 July, Düsseldorf is entirely under the banner of the 2nd stage of the Tour de France, which loops through the Neander Valley in the district of Mettmann and passes through the state capital again before the cyclists pedal their way through the neighbouring towns in the direction of Liège/Belgium. The start of the in total 203.5-kilometre cycling race is at 12.03 am. Visitors will already be able to see the publicity caravan from 10 am on. From Burgplatz in Düsseldorf, the caravan travels along the route and marks the start of the second stage of the Grand Départ in Düsseldorf. ARD and Eurosport are live on the scene for their TV viewers. The race can also be viewed online in the live stream on Sportschau.de.

Mayor Thomas Geisel, who welcomed numerous guests to the reception in the Town Hall together with the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul, is starting the final day of the Düsseldorf cycling celebrations in good spirits: "Yesterday we witnessed the enthusiasm with which the visitors supported the cyclists in their battle against the clock. Today we want to beat that enthusiasm when a page of Tour history is written. Because Düsseldorf is the first host town that the cyclists return to after the start, before finally heading off towards Belgium and then France."

The starting point of the 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2017 is Tonhallenufer, where the Village is also set up for the guests and partners of the Tour de France. The teams roll over Joseph-Beuys-Ufer from 12.03 am in the direction of Burgplatz, where they officially sign in and present themselves to the audience. In the heart of Düsseldorf's old town, the neutralised start provides a slow set-off for the cyclists. The eight-kilometre neutralisation zone runs through the city centre towards the Media Harbour and gives the fans an opportunity to experience the cyclists right up close.

After a ceremony, the race begins
At the Living Bridge, which spans the harbour basin, the cyclists stop for a small ceremony before riding through the city centre of Düsseldorf and lining up for the official start at Fischerstraße. At 12.30 am, the race pros zoom off towards the horse racetrack. In the forest section Grafenberger Wald, the cyclists battle for the first points for the mountain classification. From Grafenberg, the course leads through Gerresheim and on to the town of Erkrath. The route then winds through the Neander Valley up to Mettmann, where the cyclists pass through Ratingen, from where they return to Düsseldorf at 13.17 pm. This is a novelty for the Tour de France, as it's the first time a stage has led back to the city it started in.

The cyclists cross the Rhine via Theodor-Heuss Bridge and ride through Niederkassel to the neighbourhood of Oberkassel. At the 52nd kilometre of the route, at around 13.39 pm, the cyclists leave the city region of Düsseldorf again and pass through the district Rhein-Kreis Neuss, via Meerbusch and on to Neuss. The cyclists ride through the town centre of Neuss and then reach the North Rhine-Westphalian cycling heartland of Kaarst-Büttgen.

On the ensuing route from Korschenbroich to Mönchengladbach via the L 381, the teams prepare for the first sprint classification of the Tour de France 2017, which is recorded at kilometre 83 in the town centre of Mönchengladbach. Through the district of Heinsberg, past the open-cast mine Garzweiler 1, the cyclists reach the district of Düren and the historic town of Jülich, which was part of France from 1794 to 1814, belonging to the Département de la Roer. After the district of Aachen with the towns of Alsdorf and Würselen, the cathedral city of Aachen is the last German town that the cyclists of the Tour de France 2017 pedal through. Via the B264, the cyclists then cross the German-Belgian border. The last 51 kilometres of the stage are fought out on Belgian soil and lead to the finish line of the 2nd stage: Liège.

Big stage programme on the meadows at the state government
At the "Festival du Tour" on the meadows at the state government, there is also a big programme on Sunday, 2 July, with information on all aspects of cycling, rousing stage acts and plenty of hands-on activities! And the focus is always on the Tour - through transmission on an LED wall, the fans are always at the height of the action during both stages in and around Düsseldorf. Our tip: the neutralised route after the start of the second stage leads right through the festival grounds. There you can get right up close to the professionals on wheels. From 3.10 pm, the Düsseldorf singer and songwriter Paul Falk will appear and present his new album.

The Tour will also be celebrated in a variety of ways in parts of Düsseldorf along the route of the 2nd stage. Among other things, the citizens’ movement of the European advocates "Pulse of Europe" is taking part with an action at the Tour start. On the meadows next to the Rhine in Oberkassel, "Pulse of Europe" will be greeting the 198 cyclists and the TV viewers around the world with a choreography in the blue colours of the European Union.

Düsseldorf is celebrating along the Tour Route
One hotspot for the celebrations along the route on 2 July is district 7 (Gerresheim, Grafenberg, Hubbelrath, Knittkuhl, Ludenberg) with its mountain classification along Fahneburgstraße at the horse racetrack. During the 2nd stage of the Tour, there will also be a big street party on Quadenhofstraße in which 12 Gerresheim clubs are involved. The club Gerresheimer TV will be spinning the gyro-wheels at the town hall at Neusser Tor. At TuS Gerresheim, an over-dimensional bicycle with TuS logo and Tour logo decorates the centre circle of the artificial grass pitch at Heyestraße. An eye-catcher on 2 July will be an action by Fortuna on a field in Bergische Landstraße 440. There, a large cyclist is depicted with banners and tarpaulins whose wheels consist of the Fortuna logo.

All media information from the state capital of Düsseldorf to Grand Départ Düsseldorf 2017 can be found on our media portal at www.duesseldorf.de/international/letour/media-portal.