The official Tour presentation was held on 14 October 2009. It was the third consecutive Grand Tour to begin in the Netherlands, as the 2009 Vuelta a España began in Assen, and the 2010 Giro d'Italia in Amsterdam. The race consisted of nine flat stages, six mountain stages (three summit finishes), four medium mountain stages, and two individual time trials, one of them being the opening prologue in Rotterdam. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 17.