Paris having hosted 37 Grands Départs of the Tour de France, Brest, the starting town of stage 6 this year, is the second city on the list as it’s been point A of the race three times in the history. This year’s Tour kicks off from the Vendée province which is part of the Pays de la Loire region. After the Île-de-France that includes Paris, the Pays de la Loire is the most popular region for Grands Départs with eight editions up to date. The Vendée dominates all other provinces as a Grand Départ venue as it’s the sixth time for the Tour to start here. It was the case in 1976 at Saint-Jean-de-Monts, in 1993 and 1999 at Le Puy-du-Fou, in 2005 at Challans with the starting ramp of the inaugural time trial being located in Fromentine and in 2011 on the island of Noirmoutier before the start proper to being given at the Passage du Gois. Among the line-ups announced by the teams before the final starters to be officialised, four riders four riders have ridden both Tours previously launched in Vendée in the 21st century: Sylvain Chavanel who took part in all editions since 2001 and is set to beat the all-time record of participations (18), Simon Gerrans, Luis Leon Sanchez and Philippe Gilbert who were all Tour de France rookies in 2005. Gilbert has a special feeling with this province as he won stage 1 up the Mont des Alouettes and took the yellow jersey. Mouilleron-Saint-Germain, the starting town of stage 2, was the birthplace of WWII hero general De Lattre de Tassigny and French statesman Georges Clemenceau known as “Père la Victoire” (Father Victory) as the country’s leader at the end of WWI one-hundred years ago.
