Tour riders passed over Tower Bridge in the Grand Depart last year

The 2010 Tour de France will start in Rotterdam with a 9km time-trial course, organisers revealed on Thursday.

It is the fifth time the Netherlands will be the starting point for the prestigious cycling event which was won by Spaniard Carlos Sastre last year.

Tour boss Christian Prudhomme hoped the Grand Depart would be as successful as last year when it was staged in the UK.

"The choice of Rotterdam, is directly in keeping with the special start of the Tour in London in 2007," he said.

Prudhomme added that the proposed project, 'Rotterdam and the Tour, a new energy', had "seduced" the organisers.

"It fits into an overall policy that aims to an even bigger place for the bicycle in the city's heart, while leaning on the popularity of the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France," added Prudhomme.

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"From the banks of the Thames to the biggest port in Europe: the same desire, the same will.

"A huge party is already being prepared with all the Dutch people...at the beginning of July 2010, it will be the enthusiasm and the jubilation of the people because of the Tour that will blow us away."

Amsterdam was the venue the first time the Grand Depart took place outside France, in 1954, with the Netherlands having since hosted the start three times with the last occasion in 1996.

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