Published by Andrew on 29 January 2018
The start and finish towns for the 2018 Tour du Poitou-Charentes stages have been announced. This year the race will be held from August 21-24.
It may not be the Tour de France but the Tour du Poitou-Charentes is an important event on the French professional racing calendar and attracts big-name riders and teams.
Jens Voigt, Sylvain Chavanel, Thomas Voeckler and Tony Martin all have palmarès here. Most of the big Tour de France teams send riders.
The Tour du Poitou-Charentes is a great chance to catch top riders up close in a more relaxed environment and to take part in a truly local French cycling event.
As usual the race will have five stages over four days, with day three having two stages, including a time-trial in the afternoon.
The start and finishes for each stage are shown below and you can click on each stage to get a detailed map with basic timing information.
Stage 1: Jonzac - Cognac
Stage 2: Segonzac - Melle
Stage 3a: Gencay - Couhé
Stage 3b: Champagne Saint-Hilaire - Couhé (Individual Time Trial)
Stage 4: Brioux-sur-Boutonne - Poitiers
This is always a nice race to watch if you are in the area during the summer. The official website is here and you can find detailed timings for when the race passes through each town by clicking on each stage under the "Itinéraries" section.
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