Tourist guide

• SAINT-JULIEN-SUR-GARONNE (km 57,5)
  Though the former castle overlooking the River Garonne is now in ruins, it is possible to visit a Gallic village which has been completely recreated and watch demonstrations of arts and crafts’ techniques from that era.
• ASPET (km 106)
  The whole Tour will spare a thought for Fabio Casartelli, who was fatally injured when he fell here in 1995. Also take the time to visit “La Maison de l’Ours”, to learn about the reintroduction of brown bears in the region.
• LUCHON (km 152)
  Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant travelled here to take the waters. These days, players from Barcelona Football Club and Toulouse Rugby Club come here for training sessions. The spa is the ideal spot for treating all sorts of ailments…
• BORDÈRES-LOURON (km 179)
  This year the Tour de France will go through the town on a Sunday. Those who arrive there slightly ahead of the champions will be able to enjoy one of the region’s most typical markets.
• BAGNÈRES-DE-BIGORRE
  The marble baths of the largest spa in the Upper Pyrenees have been renowned since the antiquity. Amateur cyclists who have the opportunity of stopping by will also be able to take advantage of Laurent Fignon’s expertise, at his training facilities where everyone is welcome.

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Laurent Fignon, the two-time winner of the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984, settled Bagnères-de-Bigorre, where he now runs a hotel. He organises cycling training courses for enthusiasts of the scenery and mountains which are unique to this region.

“I was given the opportunity to take over this hotelrestaurant in Bagnères. I had imagined a project like that one for a long time. Bagnères-de-Bigorre was the ideal place for this, initially for the living environment which it represents, but also because it is near to the great mythical mountain passes of the Tour de France, the Col d’Aspin, or the Col de Tourmalet, the first mountain pass which was climbed by the race’s cyclists in 1910. I feel good in this region; it is a wonderful place where people love cycling and another one of the area’s assets is that visitors eat well here. It is calm and has spectacular scenery. It must be said that the county council and the mayor of Bagnères, Roland Castel, one of the players of the great Bagnères rugby team, are enthusiastic about sport and do a great deal for its development in the region. When I was a cyclist, the Pyrenees were not really my cup of tea. In July the weather is often stormy and I hate humid conditions: I wore the Yellow Jersey in the Pyrenees in 1989, but I never won the stage of the race there.”