Cycling enthusiasts gear up for Tour de France return to Saint Malo

Wednesday 30 October 2024

Cycling enthusiasts in Jersey may well be already planning a trip south next year after it was yesterday announced that the next edition of the Tour de France will come to Brittany for the first time since 2021 –and the first time to Saint Malo in over a decade.

Next summer’s route includes a stage departure from the port on Friday 11 July to Mûr-de-Bretagne and a stage between Saint Méen-Le-Grand and Laval the following day.

Before the Tour arrives in Brittany, there is a time-trial around Caen on Wednesday 9 July, and a 201 km stage between Bayeux and Vire Normandie on Thursday 10 July.

Cog and Sprocket owner Ian Wiliams told Express that he expected a good number of islanders to make the journey to watch cycling’s top race.

“I am sure lots of local cyclists and fans of the Tour will be going, and certainly the Jersey Rouleurs, a cycling club that I am involved with, will be making the journey,” he said.

“It is a fantastic spectacle and, in many ways, stage starts are more interesting because you get to see the cyclists and their teams up close. With finishes, there tends to be seconds of furious activity then the cyclists disappear into their cars and go.”

He added: “We haven’t had the Tour in the northwest of France for a few years, so I’m sure there will be a lot of interest here.”

The Tour last visited Saint Malo in 2013, when the stage ended with a sprint down the Chaussé de Silan, alongside the beach north of the walled town.

That stage was won by Marcel Kittel, with the Isle of Man’s Mark Cavendish in third.

Next year's edition will start in Lille and take place entirely within France.

During the Saint Malo stage, which is the seventh, the peloton will roll through the Breton town of Yffiniac to mark 40 years since Bernard Hinault, who was born there, claimed his last victory in 1985.

Mr Hinault came to Jersey in 2010 when the island hosted the first two stages of the Tour de Bretagne.