Tour de France 2015 : water and diamonds

Riders participating in the World Ports Classic were the first to hear about two new developments as they winded their way towards the end of stage 1 to Antwerp this afternoon. The intermediate sprint in Zeeland surely reminded some among them of when they raced on the dam system linking the province's islands and peninsulas in 2010. The spotlight then moved from the scene of the first stage of the 2010 Tour de France to the end of a stage to be held five years later. Stage 2 will start from Utrecht and come to an end on a dyke surrounded by the waves, a first in the history of the Tour de France.

Shortly after Andre Greipel took the spoils in Antwerp, the WPC bunch also found out that the City of Diamonds will also feature in the 2015 Grande Boucle, this time as the start of stage 3. The Flemish port is no stranger to organising Tour stage finishes, having done so in 1954 when the race first started abroad, in Amsterdam, and in 2001 when Marc Wauters won a stage which had begun in Calais.