Étape 1 : Rotterdam/La Haye
Stage 1: Rotterdam/The Hague (123 km, flat)
It's from the Dutch city of Rotterdam, Europe's leading port, that the women's tour sets off this year. After a 40 km circuit that passes through a brand new tunnel under the water twice and was inaugurated specially for the occasion, the competitors will take on the flat sections open to the winds. The final kilometres to The Hague, seat of the Netherlands' government, will lead them along a broad avenue for a finishing straight that couldn't be better suited to a mass sprint.