Le Tour de France, 2011, 2012, 2013.

Update: 21 August 2010:
I have added a page on the 2011 Tour de France route.

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It is still 5 months before this years Tour de France, the excitement is slowly building to what will be an amazing week here in the Lavedan Valley with the Etape on Sunday 18^th and then Stage 16 on Tuesday 20^th and stage 17 on Thursday 22^nd all passing through Saint Savin just 1km from our house, La Lanterne Rouge. I’m like a small child waiting for Christmas.

On to future years and what might be. The Tour de France will start on the island of Noirmoutier in the Vandée on July 2nd 2011 this is certain, the rumour mill is already at work and if it is true Le Tour will go north to Normandy and Bretagne before an air transfer south, perhaps to Biarritz. This will be the first rest day on Monday 11^th July. There will be a stage through the Basque country to Pamplona and then across the Pyrenees to Pau, probably over the Pierre Saint Martin, the same route used by the Duke of Wellington when he invaded France in 1814(more about that in a future post). There will then be a stage from Pau through the Lavedan valley to Saint Lary where there will be a mountain top finish. I have also heard mention of a finish at Cauterets, perhaps at Cambasque. This will probably be on Wednesday 13^th or Thursday 14^th of July, the tour will then head east and get to the Alps on the 20^th July with stages featuring the Galibier and L’Alpe d’Huez.

In 2012 the tour will start in the Belgian city of Liege and in 2013 it will start in Corsica. It will be the first time that the tour has visited the Mediterranean island. I will keep you up to date with all the info for the Pyrenees, keep watching this space.