The start of the 97th edition of the Tour de France in Rotterdam will likely be postponed by several hours due to two conflicting World Cup quarter-finals being held in South Africa.
The prologue through the windy streets of Rotterdam will kick off the 2010 Tour de France on the third of July. The organization had originally planned to have the final rider rolling down the start ramp finish before the start of the first football World Cup match at 4pm. The organization is however having second thoughts, asking itself whether such a time will attract enough TV viewers. The second quarter-final doesn’t start until 9pm which has led the organization to consider squeezing the prologue in between the two matches.
Traditionally, the start of the prologue has been held at the end of the afternoon with the final rider finishing approximately at half past seven. The short nine kilometer prologue will take riders over the Erasmusbrug and Willemsbrug which joins Rotterdam-South with the city’s center.
On the fourth of July the first stage of the Tour de France will start in Rotterdam and meander through Holland’s Zeeland region before finishing in Brussels, Belgium.