TOUR 2008 TO START IN BRITTANY

Tour sunflowers

The 2008 Tour de France will kick off on Saturday July 5th with three stages in Brittanny, and for the first time since 1967 there will be no opening time trial stage or prologue. However, Tour director Christian Prudhomme has promised that there will be a prologue again in 2009.

Prudhomme made the annoucement about the opening three stages of the ?08 race - due to be revealed in its entirety on October 25th in Paris - at a ceremony in Rennes on Thursday. The reason for eliminating the prologue is due to the Tour start being hosted for the first time ever by an entire region of France - Brittany - rather than a specific city.

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