体坛英语新闻：Tour de France to start from Dusseldorf in 2017

PARIS, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- German city Dusseldorf will host the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2017, announced the organizers on Tuesday.

Le Tour wrote on the Twitter "Grand Depart 2017: Dusseldorf #TDF2017" to confirm the news.

The city council voted 40-39 in favor of applying last month after London withdrew for cost reasons.

It will be the fourth time in the cycling race's century-old history to start in Germany after Cologne in 1965, Frankfurt in 1980 and Berlin in 1987.

And following the 2014 edition in Leeds, England and 2015 in Utrecht, Netherlands, it will be the 22nd time in total that the Grand Depart has taken place outside of France.

Organizers Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) said that more details will be available at a press conference on January 14.

Next year, the Tour will start from Mont St Michel in Normandy.