2010 Tour de France to start with Rotterdam prologue

By Gilles Le Roc'h

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) - The 2010 Tour de France will start on July 3 with a 9-km prologue in the streets of Rotterdam, organisers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) said on Thursday.

"It is a particular moment for me to announce this 'Grand Depart' in the presence of Joop Zoetemelk, the last Dutch winner of the Tour," Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten told a news conference.

"We now have to hope a Dutch rider will win the Tour de France that year," said Zoetemelk, who won the Tour in 1980 and tipped compatriot Robert Gesink to prevail on the French roads in 2010.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme said ASO were seduced by Rotterdam's ambition to use the Tour to develop the use of bicycles in the city.

"We were seduced by their commitment in the fight against global warming, in a global policy aiming to firmly establish cycling in the heart of the city by using the world's greatest race," said Prudhomme.

The Tour last started outside France in 2007 when it was launched from London.

(Writing by Julien Pretot in Paris, editing by Justin Palmer)