SPORTS

2019 Tour de France to start in Brussels

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, May 30, 2017 7:32AM EDT

The Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysee avenue during the 133.5 km twenty-first and last stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 21, 2013 between Versailles and Paris. (AFP / JOEL SAGET)

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PARIS -- The 2019 Tour de France will start in Brussels to celebrate the 50th anniversary of five-time champion Eddy Merckx's maiden win in cycling's biggest race.

Tour organizers say it will be the second time the race will set off from the Belgian capital, which hosted the race's Grand Depart in 1958.

This year's Tour starts in the German city of Duesseldorf on July 1. The Tour will return home for the 2018 start when riders set off from the Passage du Gois in western France.

The 2019 race will also mark 100 years since the race leader's yellow jersey was created.

Merckx, who won a record 34 Tour stages, is among four riders who won the Tour five times. Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain are the others.