Published: March 2010
Jersey will host the opening two stages of the prestigious Tour de Bretagne cycle race in April.
Over a hundred professional riders from some of the sport’s top teams will be competing in this high profile event, which has been a feature of the European cycling calendar for over 40 years.
Its importance is underlined by the escort given it by the President of France’s Garde Rupublicaine motorcycle squadron, an honour shared only with the Tour de France, while the race itself is watched by tens of thousands of spectators throughout Brittany as well as by millions on national television across France.
The opening stage or “étape” on Sunday 25th April is a 150km race, incorporating ten laps of a scenic but challenging 15km circuit of the Island’s eastern Parishes, and will be the first time that a road race stage of the Tour has ever been held outside of northern France. This follows on from the success of the Island in hosting the time trial stage in 2007.
Stage 2 of this year’s Tour will also be a time trial, with individual riders racing against the clock over a 10 km course which follows the sweep of St Ouen’s Bay on Jersey’s west coast.
The Tour then continues on to Brittany, finishing in Dinan on Sunday 1st May.
Among the 22 teams taking part are Team Sky (the British professional road racing team) and leading outfits such as Rabobank, QuickStep and Rapha Condor.
