The start, or LE GRAND DEPART, of the 2011 Tour De France, will be in the Vendée. It will be the fifth time that the Tour de France has started in the Vendée and it usually signals a top name finishing first on the Champs Elysées – please note, we are no longer taking any bookings for the Grand Depart.

Dig into the stats books and you’ll find the Vendée inspired Miguel Indurain and also Lance Armstrong, who signalled his return from cancer with a dramatic triumph during what was then a farewell tour.

Of all the many images of the Tour that we can remember, the pack crossing the Passage du Gois in 1999 is definitely one of the most exciting, in fact probably the finest that we have ever seen on a flat stage. Since the tide allows us, the Tour de France will be back on this inimitable road in July 2011, during the initial parade, before the official starting ceremony, several minutes before the actual start of the race.

More race details of the 2011 Tour de France will be announced in October, and we’ll update you with the very latest information here and in our newsletter, which you can sign up for by clicking this link.

As the only official VIP Tour Operator for the Tour De France in Europe we’ll have the best offers and packages for the 2011 Tour de France.

The Vendée

Situated on the west coast of France, looking onto the Atlantic Ocean and crossed by a river of the same name, the Vendée department (85) has an area of 6,720 kilometres and is split into three parts: the Bocage of the Vendée which occupies the majority of its surface, the Breton Marshes to the north west and the plains to the east.

The Vendée has a population of more than 620,000 inhabitants (called Vendéens in French) who belong to the administrative region of Pays de la Loire. La Roche-sur-Yon (51,000 inhabitants), a town founded in 1804 on the orders of Napoleon I, is the administrative seat of the department.

Les Herbiers (14,000 inhabitants) and Les Essarts (4,800 inhabitants) are cantonal sub-divisions, whilst the town of Olonne-sur-Mer has a population of 12,500 inhabitants.

The Tour de France and the Vendée

Saturday 2nd July

FIRST STAGE
Passage du Gois > Mont des Alouettes: 180 km
A Grand Start between sky and sea… The official start of the 98th edition of the Tour de France will take place at the Passage du Gois. Linking the continent to the island of Noirmoutier and measuring 4.5 km in length, the Passage du Gois is a submersible road covered twice daily at high tide, but which remains fully accessible at low tide.

Beforehand, the starting ceremony will take place in Fromentine followed by a parade along the island of Noirmoutier. Then, once they have rejoined terra firma, the pack will wind its way through the Vendée, firstly along mainly flat roads towards the south, before heading northeast towards Les Herbiers through more rolling countryside. The finishing line will be based at Mont des Alouettes whose summit stands at 232 metres. The Mont des Alouettes was a strategically important site during the Wars of the Vendée (1793-1796).

Sunday 3rd July

SECOND STAGE
Les Essarts > Les Essarts – Team time-trial: 23 km
The second day in the Vendée will witness the return of the team time trial, a stage not included in the programme for the Tour de France 2010. It will be contested over a 23 km circuit with the start and finish at Les Essarts.

The route will follow a loop to the west of the town, mainly on the flat and straight roads in the Bocage of the Vendée, passing through the towns of Boulogne and La Merlatière in particular.

THIRD STAGE
Olonne-sur-Mer > …
The riders will cover a distance of approximately 80 km on the department’s roads before leaving the Vendée…

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