Unterwegs

Valenciennes: Die Stadt Valenciennes ist bekannt für ihre lange Bergbaugeschichte und ihre Industrie. Hier trifft beeindruckende Architektur auf eine lebendige, urbane Atmosphäre. Mit ihren Museen, wie dem Musée des Beaux-Arts, und einer lebendigen lokalen Kunstszene lädt die Stadt ihre Besucher:innen ein, in das kulturelle Angebot einzutauchen. Ob du nun auf der Suche nach urbanem Flair oder nach Entspannung in der Natur bist: Hier findest du bestimmt, wonach du suchst. Erklimme eine der zahlreichen Bergehalden und blicke auf eine 300-jährige Bergbaugeschichte zurück, tank neue Energie bei der Vogelbeobachtung auf einem Ponton am Etang du Vignoble, radle entlang der belgischen Grenze und gönn dir eine Pause in einem der vielen Cafés. Besucher:innen können lokale kulinarische Spezialitäten wie „Welsh“, ein herzhaftes Käsegericht, genießen, während sie die Rennfahrer anfeuern. Die belebten öffentlichen Plätze geben einen echten Einblick in den dynamischen Geist von Valenciennes.

Dunkerque: Dunkerque ist berühmt für den lebhaften Karneval mit seinen Bands, seinen Riesen und seinem berühmten Heringswurf vom Balkon des Rathauses. Die Stadt ist eine Mischung aus Geschichte und charmantem Örtchen am Meer. Entdecke das maritime Erbe der Stadt im Museum „Mémorial du Souvenir“ oder steige auf den Glockenturm von Saint-Eloi, der zum UNESCO-Welterbe gehört, und genieße den Panoramablick über die Stadt und das Meer. Entspanne dich an den Sandstränden, die sich entlang der Küste erstrecken, und lass dir frische Meeresfrüchte, Muscheln und Pommes frites, Potjevleesch oder ein gutes Craftbier in einem typischen Estaminet schmecken.

NORD (59)

Population: 2,616,909

Prefecture: Lille

Sub-prefectures: Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Dunkerque, Cambrai, Douai, Valenciennes

Surface area: 5,743 km²

Number of communes: 648

Specialities: potjevleesch, waterzooï, hochepot, Flemish carbonnade, Welsh rarebit, petit sale (bacon), moules frites (mussels and chips); desserts and pastries: tarte au sucre (sugar pie) and tarte au libouli, waffles. Local produce: potatoes (30% of national production), beetroot, chicory, smoked garlic from Arleux (PGI); cheeses: Bergues, Boulette d'Avesnes, Maroilles (PDO), Mont des Cats, Vieux-Lille; charcuterie: Lucullus tongue, Cambrai andouille; confectionery: Bêtises de Cambrai, Babeluttes de Lille, Chuques du Nord; drinks: chicory, beer, juniper.

Sports clubs: LOSC, VAFC (football), LMR (rugby), Vélo Club Roubaix Lille Métropole (cycling), BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, AS Aulnoye-Aymeries, ESBVA-LM, Saint-Amand Hainaut Basket (basketball), TLM, Volley club de Marcq-en-Barœul Lille Métropole, Cambrai Elan (volleyball), USDK, Saint-Amand Handball Porte du Hainaut (handball), Les Corsaires de Dunkerque (ice hockey), Douai Hockey Club, Cambrai Hockey Club, Lille Métropole Hockey Club (hockey)

Competitions: Paris-Roubaix, Grand Prix de Denain, Grand Prix de Fourmies, Lille-Hardelot (cycling), Ch'ti bike tour (mountain biking), Tour Voile (sailing), Play Inn Challenger (tennis).

Festivals: Dunkirk Carnival (February), Nuits Secrètes in Aulnoye-Aymeries (August), Braderie de Lille (September), Name Festival (September), Maubeuge Beer Fest (October).

Economy: automotive industry, transport and logistics, retail, mail order, steel, petrochemicals, agriculture. Seven universities, including the largest in France.

Websites / FB:www.lenord.fr / www.jadorelenord.fr / @departement59 / @nordtourisme

Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Pop: 16,000)

The main town on the Scarpe plain, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux is located around 10km north-west of Valenciennes, around 35km south-east of Lille (the capital of the department and region) and around 20km south of Tournai in Belgium. Saint-Amand-les-Eaux lies at the very heart of the Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park, which covers 48 municipalities (43,000 hectares and 162,000 inhabitants) and has joined forces with the Plaines de l'Escaut Nature Park (Hainaut province, Belgium) to form the Hainaut Cross-Border Nature Park. An industrial and spa town, it has been run for thirty years by Communist mayors, Alain Bocquet from 1995 to 2025 and Fabien Roussel today. Saint-Amand-les-Eaux is the birthplace of the spy and resistance fighter Louise de Bettignies and Cécile Nowak, Olympic judo champion in Barcelona in 1992. In 2012, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux hosted the French road championships, with victories on the road race by Nacer Bouhanni and Marion Rousse, future director of the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift. The time trial went to Sylvain Chavanel in the men's race and Pauline-Ferrand-Prévot in the women's race. A regular feature of the Dunkirk Four Days, the spa town also hosted the Tour de France in 1978, for a stage won by Jacques Esclassan in a bunch sprint. Several professional riders were born in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, including Jacques Guiot. But the most famous local rider is Jean Stablinski, born four kilometres away in Thun-Saint-Amand.

Jean Stablinski: miner, champion and cobblestone chaser

It was in the midst of the 2007 Grande Boucle that the caravan learned of the death of one of the Tour de France's most loyal companions. The son of Polish immigrants and a former underground miner, Jean Stablinski left his mark on the Tour's history book with five stage victories between 1957 and 1967. World champion in 1962, winner of the Vuelta in 1958, "Stab" was also particularly motivated by the tricolour jersey, which he won four times between 1960 and 1964. However, he never wore the Tour's Yellow Jersey. After his career, he was a true cobblestone scout for the organisers of Paris-Roubaix and his greatest find was undoubtedly the Arenberg Trench, at the entrance of which a monument now stands in his honour.

Templeuve-en-Pévèle (Pop: 6,000)

In the Pays de Pévèle region, part of the Lille catchment area (French part), of which it is an outlying municipality. A rider born in Templeuve took part in the Tour de France: Victor Codron, who finished 40th in 1939.

Vertain Mill and giant cobble

Construction: 15th century
History: Moulin de Vertain (Vertain Mill), also known as Moulin Blanc (White Mill) and Moulin de Briques (Brick Mill), is a brick tower mill built in the 15th century. It stopped turning in 1908 and was seriously damaged during the First World War. Restored between 1980 and 1985, it now belongs to the local authority. It is unique in the way it operates around a central pivot.
Trivia: the Vertain Mill is the symbol of the cobbled section of the Paris-Roubaix race that bears its name. A giant cobble, created by sculptor Renaud Masquelier, is installed nearby. 
Lisetd as: Historical Monument in 1978

Mons-en-Pévèle (Pop: 2,100)

Mons-en-Pévèle was the site of a battle won by Philip the Fair over the Flemish in 1304. This battle is immortalised in a painting by Charles-Philippe Larivière in the Battles Gallery at the Versailles Palace. The cobbled sector of Mons-en-Pévèle (3,000 m) is one of the most difficult and decisive sectors of Paris-Roubaix.

Seclin (Pop: 13,000)

Home to the Lille-Séclin industrial zone, the largest economic hub in the Lille metropolitan area, Seclin also has a prestigious past, as evidenced by its ancient Saint-Piat collegiate church, its 13th-century hospital and its perfectly preserved 19th-century Séré de Rivières fort, which today houses a historical centre dedicated to the cavalry and artillery, particularly during the First World War Seclin is the birthplace of tennis player Sarah Pitkowski, a regular in the Tour de France caravan, as well as Ghanaian international footballer André Ayew and paralympic cyclist Jérôme Lambert.  

Saint-Piat Church

Construction: 13th century.
Style: Gothic.
History: dating back to the 7th century, this former collegiate church is the oldest religious building in the Lille area. Originally, Saint Eligius, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, had a church built over the tomb of Saint Piatus, who was beheaded in 287 in Seclin. The cult of the martyr took on particular importance in the 11th century, and the collegiate church developed around it, with a cloister, chapter house, library, school, brewery and houses for the canons. The current church is a 13th-century reconstruction. It was renovated in the 15th century, and a bell tower was added in 1531. The interior of the church was then refurbished in the 18th century.
Characteristics: in the 7th-century Romanesque crypt, the sarcophagus of St. Piatus dates from the 3rd century. It is covered with a slab of Tournai blue stone from the 12th century, decorated with an engraving depicting the saint. The altar at the back of the crypt dates from the same period. The transept columns in the centre of the church date back to the Romanesque church. The choir itself was modified between 1705 and 1725. The ambulatory dates from the 13th-century reconstruction. It gives access to thirteen chapels.
Special features: the carillon, inaugurated in 1933, has 42 bells. The tunes played automatically every 1/4 hour are: Le Petit Quinquin on the hour, Le Roi Dagobert on the quarter hour, Mandoline d'Oiseaux on the half hour and J'ai du Bon Tabac on the 3/4 hour.
Listed as a historic monument since 1920.

Marguerite de Flandre Hospital

Construction: 13th century.
Style: Spanish-Flemish Renaissance.
History: in 1246, Margaret of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders, bequeathed the adjacent land and meadows to build a hospital. In the years that followed, a community of Augustinian nuns moved into the foundation. The establishment, built around a farm, was very modest in size at the time, but the estate also included 300 hectares of land and woods. After more than seven centuries in the hospital, the last nuns left in April 2013.
Characteristics: Although the remaining buildings were erected between the 14th and early 20th centuries, the hospital has a remarkable Hispano-Flemish Renaissance style. The north wing contains the oldest parts: the choir, rebuilt between 1340 and 1360, the chapel, built in 1533, the patients' ward, built in the 15th century and rebuilt and extended in the 17th century, and the sacristy, added in the 18th century. Access is via a square courtyard built in the 17th century. The east and west wings are made up of buildings constructed before the courtyard was laid out, between the 16th and 17th centuries. The south wing is made up of more recent buildings, built between 1701 and the early 20th century.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1932.

Haisnes (Pop: 4,400)

The town has two pits listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites in the Nord Pas-de-Calais coalfield. Pit 6 in the Lens mines has been a listed historic monument since 2004. The commune is also home to three British military cemeteries.

Béthune (25,340 inhabitants)

At the heart of a conurbation with a population of 275,000, this historically middle-class town and canal town has seen its activities evolve in different directions: textiles in the Middle Ages, mechanical engineering and chemicals (tyre factory) in the late 20th century. Although located on the edge of the coalfield, Béthune has never had a mine on its territory. Half-destroyed at the end of the First World War, then rebuilt, occupied and damaged during the Second World War, the town is now renewing itself once again, with the creation of eco-neighbourhoods and a major urban renewal project. Rich in architectural heritage and history, it is nicknamed the "City of Buridan", after the 15th-century philosopher Jean Buridan. Other local celebrities include Fabien Roussel, the current secretary of the French Communist Party, Olympic fencing champion Eric Srecki and footballers Jocelyn Blanchard and Jérôme Leroy. Béthune has only hosted the Tour de France once, in 1984, for a half-stage won solo by Belgian rider Ferdi Van Den Haute. He thought he had won the Yellow Jersey, but after a recalculation of the bonuses, it finally went to Adrie van der Poel, Mathieu's father.  

Belfry of Béthune

Built: 1388
Style: medieval
History: the first belfry in Béthune was built in 1346. Built of wood, it was destroyed by fire. In 1388, at the height of the Hundred Years' War, Marquis William I of Namur authorised the reconstruction of the sandstone building to make it more robust. In 1437, a third floor was added, and in 1546 the aldermen added a carillon with six bells. The cloth market around the building was destroyed by fire in 1664, leaving the belfry standing alone and isolated in the centre of the square. In 1773, the carillon of 6 bells was replaced by 36 new bells. In May 1918, bombing raids destroyed the belfry and the carillon. After the war, it was decided to leave the belfry alone, in the centre of the Grand-Place.
Listed as: historical monument in 1862. Listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France.   

Saint-Ignace Tower

Built: 1416
Style: Medieval
History: dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, this artillery tower was part of the fortifications protecting the town of Béthune. It was once a powder magazine and is thought to have been built in 1416. Inside the tower is a vaulted guardroom dating from the 16th century.
Listed as: historical monument in 1969.

Isbergues (Pop: 8,650)

Isbergues' proximity to the coalfield made it an industrial town, and in particular a stronghold of the steel industry. Today, the town's industrial hub includes Aperam and tkES, which manufacture stainless and magnetic steel, Recyco and Weee Metalica, which recycle metal dust and electronic cards, and Eurofield, which specialises in artificial turf. Sainte-Isbergue church (16th century) has been a listed historical monument since 1913. Every year since 1947, the Grand Prix d'Isbergues, "the Artois classic", has been held here. Riders of the calibre of Jean Stablinski, Joop Zoetemelk, Sean Kelly, Philippe Gilbert, John Degenkolb and Mads Pedersen have all won the race, with Arnaud Démare holding the record for most victories (3). Local riders include André Mollet, who won a stage of Paris-Nice in 1978. He took part in five Tours de France between 1973 and 1978.

NORD (59)

Population: 2,616,909

Prefecture: Lille

Sub-prefectures: Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Dunkerque, Cambrai, Douai, Valenciennes

Surface area: 5,743 km²

Number of communes: 648

Specialities: potjevleesch, waterzooï, hochepot, Flemish carbonnade, Welsh rarebit, petit sale (bacon), moules frites (mussels and chips); desserts and pastries: tarte au sucre (sugar pie) and tarte au libouli, waffles. Local produce: potatoes (30% of national production), beetroot, chicory, smoked garlic from Arleux (PGI); cheeses: Bergues, Boulette d'Avesnes, Maroilles (PDO), Mont des Cats, Vieux-Lille; charcuterie: Lucullus tongue, Cambrai andouille; confectionery: Bêtises de Cambrai, Babeluttes de Lille, Chuques du Nord; drinks: chicory, beer, juniper.

Sports clubs: LOSC, VAFC (football), LMR (rugby), Vélo Club Roubaix Lille Métropole (cycling), BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, AS Aulnoye-Aymeries, ESBVA-LM, Saint-Amand Hainaut Basket (basketball), TLM, Volley club de Marcq-en-Barœul Lille Métropole, Cambrai Elan (volleyball), USDK, Saint-Amand Handball Porte du Hainaut (handball), Les Corsaires de Dunkerque (ice hockey), Douai Hockey Club, Cambrai Hockey Club, Lille Métropole Hockey Club (hockey)

Competitions: Paris-Roubaix, Grand Prix de Denain, Grand Prix de Fourmies, Lille-Hardelot (cycling), Ch'ti bike tour (mountain biking), Tour Voile (sailing), Play Inn Challenger (tennis).

Festivals: Dunkirk Carnival (February), Nuits Secrètes in Aulnoye-Aymeries (August), Braderie de Lille (September), Name Festival (September), Maubeuge Beer Fest (October).

Economy: automotive industry, transport and logistics, retail, mail order, steel, petrochemicals, agriculture. Seven universities, including the largest in France.

Websites / FB:www.lenord.fr / www.jadorelenord.fr / @departement59 / @nordtourisme

Cassel (population 2,300)

Before the arrival of the Romans, the town was an oppidum, probably the chief town of the Morins: it was then called Castellum Morinorum, which later became Castellum Menapiorum. The commune won the 2018 edition of the TV show Le Village préféré des Français (France’s favourite village). Thanks to the presence of one of the most famous hills in the North, Mont Cassel, the town is an almost obligatory stage for the Dunkirk Four Days, which Cassel has hosted twenty times. Cassel also hosted the 2023 French road championships, won by Valentin Madouas and Victoire Berteau (road race) and Cédrine Kerbaol and Rémi Cavagna (time trial). It was also the hub of the Roubaix-Cassel-Roubaix race, organised from 1933 to 1970.  

Cassel Windmill

Location : At an altitude of 176 metres. In 1949, the town bought a mill in Arnèke that was falling into disrepair, restored it and by 1983 the wings were once again turning at the top of Mont Cassel. In 1992, the first flour came out of the stone millstones, and in 1999, a mini oil mill was built to demonstrate the pressing of linseed into oil.

Quaëdypre (Pop: 1,120)

Quaëdypre is the birthplace of Pierre Everaert (1933-1989), a former team-mate of Jacques Anquetil who took part in eight Tours de France between 1959 and 1966. The rider from the north of France also won Paris-Bruxelles (1960) and Paris-Camembert (1965) and wore the leader's jersey in the Tour of Spain. 

Cappelle-la-Grande (Pop: 7,870)

Cappelle-la-Grande was built and developed around the Palais des Arts et des Loisirs, a Flemish-style town centre that gave the town a boost in the early 1980s, along with the construction of a belfry. Cappelle-la-Grande is a leading centre for scientific tourism, with a planetarium – the only one north of Paris – and the construction of the Palais de l'Univers et des Sciences (PLUS), which opened in 2009 and has become a major tourist and scientific facility belonging to the Dunkirk Urban Community. Cappelle-la-Grande is the birthplace of Alain and Sylvain Vasseur, father and uncle of Cédric Vasseur (see stage 1).

Palais de l'Univers et des Sciences (PLUS)

Opening date: 2009
History: created in 1989 and taken over by the Dunkirk Urban Community in 1997, the planetarium in Cappelle-la-Grande has grown steadily, becoming the Palais de l'Univers et des Sciences in 2009.
Characteristics: PLUS aims to raise public awareness of the need to protect the planet and contribute to education for sustainable development. It offers a wide range of hands-on scientific workshops in biology, astronomy and geology for children and adults. The planetarium benefits from the latest technological advances: 5 4K projectors to cover the entire dome and give a 3D illusion for 360° animated sessions. It can accommodate up to 117 people and offers more than 25 sessions to suit all audiences.