Tour de France 2020

There was much excitement when the route for the 2020 Tour de France was announced, with a rest day and 3 stages (9, 10 and 11) planned for Poitou-Charentes.

Having set out from Nice on 27 June, the riders will arrive in Charente-Maritime on Monday 6 July, following two gruelling mountain stages in the Pyrénées.

The following day they’ll set off from the Île d’Oléron and cycle 170km north along the Atlantic coast via Royan, Rochefort and La Rochelle, finishing in Saint-Martin-de-Ré.

Wednesday sees the peloton back on the mainland, where they will leave Châtelaillon-Plage and head inland, racing the 167km to Poitiers with a 1.5km sprint finish into the city centre.

Then it’s a short hop east for Thursday’s departure from Chauvigny for Stage 11 to Sarran in Corrèze where, after two days on the flat, they will face the challenging climb up the Suc au May, which will prepare them for Friday’s mountain course in the Massif Central.

The race finishes with the traditional Champs-Elysées laps of honour on 19 July.

As well as being an amazing spectacle of endurance, the arrival of the Tour in the region for 3 days will bring an important boost to tourism, with many accommodation providers already fully booked.

An estimated 10-12 million spectators will watch the race from around the world, showcasing the region and promising to boost visitor numbers in 2021, too.

Nearly eighty per cent of visitors to the race are families (with 20% coming from abroad), many of whom will incorporate the race into a longer holiday in the area. For full details as they are released, see www.letour.fr.