The Grand Départ (start) of the 2011 Tour de France in the Vendée confirmed, without prologue

Added: tuesday 26 January 2010 at 20:43:00

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Announced on paris.thover.com since January 2008 already and recently confirmed, the Grand Départ of the 2011 Tour de France from Vendée has officially been presented today.

The department on the west coast of France will organise a first stage in line, a team time trial and the start of another stage in line.
Let's discover the details of this Grand Départ ...
The Grand Départ of the 2011 Tour de France and the stage cities of the first stages
The Vendée (French department number 85), which is used to receive the navigators of the Vendée Globe every 4 years for their adventures on sea, receives the Grand Départ of the Tour de France every 6 years since 1993 and after 2005 this will thus again be the case in 2011.

The three stages in the Vendée
The Vendée will organise no less than 3 stages of the Tour de France 2011: a first stage in line, a team time trial and the start of the third stage, also a stage in line.
Saturday 2 July 2011 - first stage - Passage du Gois > Mont des Alouettes - 180 km
No time for a prologue in the 2011 Tour de France: just like for the 2008 Tour de France with its start from Brest in Bretagne, the 2011 Tour de France also directly starts with a stage in line.

This stage will have a quite original start: the official ceremony for the start of the first stage will be held at about 8 kilometers from the unofficial start, at the entrance of quite a special road.

The riders will get together for the start in Fromentine (la Barre-de-Monts) and will than go to the island of Noirmoutier before they take the Passage du Gois. There, on that narrow road which gets under water two times a day and can only be used when the tide is out, the first stage will really start.
After that start, the riders will follow the Route du Gois over about 4,5 kilometers before they arrive on the mainland close to Bellevue.

The anecdote about the origin of the name of the Passage du Gois
According to the dedicated Wikipédia page, the Passage du Gois thanks its name to the verb goiser which means walking while getting wet clogs.
This road has been accessible for cars only since 1939 when it got paved.

The Tour de France already passed over the Passage du Gois on 5 Julu 1999 and this led to a spectacular fall in the peloton of which the photo is available on the L'Equipe website. Concering this earlier visit, Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France but at that time journalist at L'Equipe, said: Of all the many images of the Tour that I can remember, the pack crossing the Passage du Gois in 1999 is definitely one of the most exciting, in fact probably the finest that I have ever seen on a flat stage.

Once the riders arrive at Bellevue, they will go to the south of the department while following quite flat routes and visiting, if the map is correct, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and La Roche-sur-Yon before going back to the north east of the Vendée over more hilly roads, a visit to Les Herbiers before the finish on top of the Mont des Alouettes (where the official presentation of the Grand Départ also took place today) at a 232 meter altitude. Right from the first day, the organiser of the Tour thus tries to bring in some suspense because where usually the sprinters have most chance of winning the first Tour stages, with this final climb they will have to battle for the first stage victory with the punchers!
Sunday 3 July 2011 - second stage - Les Essarts > Les Essarts - team time trial - 23 km
After the team time trial in Montpellier during the Tour de France 2009 and its absence in the Tour de France 2010, the Tour de France 2011 again proposes a team time trial in this second stage which will take place around Les Essarts.

While visiting Boulogne and La Merlatière on the west side of Les Essarts, this stage will follow mostly flat and straight line routes over a distance of only 23 kilometers. In his presentation, Christian Prudhomme said the number of kilometers was chosen to be low: no more, no less to keep the race fluid.
Monday 4 July 2011 - third stage - Olonne-sur-Mer > ??? - ??? km
The third stage will also start in Vendée, from Olonne-sur-Mer. Going north after the start, the riders will leave the Vendée after about 80 kilometers. It is therefore most probable that the stage will finish somewhere in Bretagne, in the Loire-Atlantique department (Nantes?).
The map of the first stages of the Tour de France 2011
Below you can find the map of the first stages and the Grand Départ of the 2011 Tour de France (© A.S.O.). Click on it to zoom in.

The details of the Grand Départ
Usually the Permanence and Press room of the Grand Départ are located close to the start city of the first stage. This will not be the case in 2011 when they will be in Les Herbiers.

That's where the Tour de France organiser (A.S.O.), the sponsors and the teams will get back together from 29 June until 2 July 2011, at the complexe sportif de l'Etenduère.

As usual, the team presentations with the participating riders of the Tour de France will take place on the Thursday before the start. In the Vendée this will be at a mythical spot for the Tour de France, in Le Puy du Fou. That's where the prologues of the Tour de France 1993 and 1999 took place, respectively won by Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong (in 1997 the 4th stage of the Tour, coming from Plumelec, finished there as well).
Le Puy du Fou is also known for its amusement park which among other attractions contains a completely rebuilt medieval village.

The Tour de France 2011 will take place from 2 till 24 July 2011.

> Click here to see the video of the presentation of the Grand Départ on the website of the Vendée
Rumours about the 2011 Tour de France route
From August/September 2010, paris.thover.com will as usual most probably be the first to announce you all rumours about the 2011 Tour de France route and build up that route with the help of some of you best on rumours which I find mostly in newspapers (you probably remember that in October 2009 paris.thover.com was the first to announce you all stages of the 2010 Tour de France; all that information was confirmed during the official presentation of the Tour de France 2010).
In the mean time, if you get some information by reading your local newspaper or when you're chatting with your neighbours about the stages of the 98th Tour de France, please let me know by publishing your comment below or by contacting me directly (address on the homepage of this site)!
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Comments

Currently 7 comments!

Je me souviens de deux magnifiques jours de vacances à Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie où je logeais dans un hotel-restaurant formidable où nous avions mangé une montagne de fruits de mer et des moules marinières à volonté. Le départ du Tour 2011 sera absolument fantastique !!!
| Journée | tuesday 26 January 2010 at 23:29:44
On pourra dire ce que l'on voudra je trouve que même si les tracés de Prud'homme sont moyen en règle générale, il fait tout de même des très beaux départs depuis 2008, avc l'arrivée en haut de la bosse à Plumelec puis le clm.indiv. 3 jours après, en 2009 à Monaco, en 2010 à Rotterdam avc une étape très vallonnée vers Spa puis le lendemain 25kms de pavés avant l'arrivée, et enfin cette année, avc une arrivée en côte puis un court clm.équi. dès le lendemain ! Prometteur =).
| thibaut | wednesday 27 January 2010 at 14:12:56
Nantes, ce ne sera pas vraiment sur la route des Pyrénnés. :p Prudhomme envisage t'il de rompre avec la règle tacite fixant l'ordre entre Alpes et Pyrénnés ?10
| Pierrick | wednesday 27 January 2010 at 22:12:40
Salut tout le monde: c'est elie le fan des tracés du tour de france mais cette fois ci je change de registre: je commente ce départ de vendée!
Je tiens à le signaler que ce grand départ me plait beaucoup : originalité à travers des paysages insolites (Mont des Alouettes, le fameux passage du Gois,...); et surtout avec un clm par équipes plat de 23 km comme au tour d'italie : voilà une bonne chose et très intéressante : en plus c'est la 2ème étape : vraiment de la nouveauté et ça fait plaisir !!! Pour résumer ce gand départ du tour de france en vendée, même si ça fait la quatrième fois en 15 ans à peu près (il y a les sous là bas avec philippe de Villiers !!!=D il ne faut pas se voiler la face, tout est question de sous ), est vraiment attrayant et nous réservera des surprises ! Merci ASO

vive le tour de france :un office de tourisme de la france à l'echelle mondiale !

| elie | thursday 28 January 2010 at 10:34:57
@ Pierrick
Centenaire des Alpes en 2011, il est impensable de voir ce massif arriver en premier. Quitter la Vendée par le Nord du département n'y fera rien et ce n'est d'ailleurs pas surprenant vu le nombre de villes bretonnes et normandes ayant fait savoir qu'elles souhaitaient accueillir le Tour 2011. Gageons néanmoins qu'un transfert vers le sud sera nécessaire avant d'aborder les pyrénnées.
La première semaine pourrait donc ressembler à ça par exemple :

3e étape : Olonne - Plumelec
4e étape : vannes - chateaulin
5e étape : carhaix - avranches (ou dinan)
6e étape : avranches - lisieux
7e étape : évreux - blois
8e étape : vierzon - volvic
9e étape : Clermont Fd - Clermont Fd (CLM ind)
Puis repos et transfert vers le sud (Bordeaux, Bayonne, Tarbes ??)

à mon avis, exit la rumeur d'une étape dans les deux-sèvres et de bonnes chances de voir 2 CLM ind en plus du chrono par équipes...
| willy | monday 01 February 2010 at 16:18:57
Gloire aux anciens de 1921 et spécialement, non au flandrien mais au wallon (il venait de Bouffioulx) Louis Mottiat, qui avait remporté Brest- Les Sables d'Olonne (412km) et Les Sables d'Olonne-Bayonne (482km). Des 'iron men' pareils n'existent plus maintenant .
| Journée | monday 01 February 2010 at 20:25:56
En 1911 les Alpes passaient également avant les Pyrénées.
Et 2011 ne sera pas le centenaire du premier passage du Tour dans les Alpes, alors que le Tour y passait déja depuis 1905.
Col Bayard et Cote de Laffey en 1905.
Col de Porte en 1907
| mathias | tuesday 02 February 2010 at 16:50:56