German City Dusseldorf, as expected, has been named as the Grand Depart venue for the 2017 Tour De France by Amaury Sports Organisation.
With London withdrawing due to the costs which were nowhere near what Dusseldorf is understood to have put up, it will be the first time in thirty years that Germany has hosted a Grand Depart with West Berlin the last in 1987 and the fourth time in the race's history that the race has been held on German soil.
At the moment, the race will not be a UCI World Tour event as the race organisers have said in a letter last week that from 2017, all of their races would no longer be World Tour category races due to a number of differences with the world's cycling governing body.