D-100 : The Manche awaits the Tour !

When the Tour meets History
The 2016 edition of the Tour de France will provide a start charged with history. From the team presentation at Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the stage finish at Utah Beach and the start of stage two at Saint-Lô, the martyr city devastated by bombings (and whose equestrian centre will be used as the Tour HQ and media centre), the landmarks of World War II will be honoured in July. Around the Department’s most celebrated places, the 435 kilometres in the Manche that will kick-off the 2016 Tour will offer numerous opportunities to honour the memory of the soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice on Normandy soil for liberty, and “to make the greatest cycling race an event that is part of History and the era that it traverses”, as Tour de France Director, Christian Prudhomme, often says.
 
A peloton of wool at the foot of Mont Saint-Michel
The salt meadow sheep of the Baie du Mont Saint-Michel, one of the Manche’s emblems, are all ready for the Tour. To mark the symbolic barrier of 100 days before the Grand Depart, 100 ovine were painted (thanks to a certified biodegradable paint) in the colours of the Tour leader jerseys.

A tricolour piping for the Yellow Jersey
A nod addressed to the Manche Department by le coq sportif for 2016, which will start in France after the past two starts held in The Netherlands (Utrecht) and in England (Yorkshire). The Yellow Jersey worn each day by the leader in the general classification will in fact be decorated with blue-white-red piping along the back seams. The white, green and polka dot jerseys will feature this same styling…

Tour favourites will have to work as early as stage two
In 2016, the organisers wanted to design significantly different routes and finals for the two Manche stages. The arrival at Utah Beach on Saturday July 2nd will be decided at the end of a long straight run, most likely offering a sprint finish, in the opinion of race director Thierry Gouvenou. At the following day’s arrival at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Glacerie climb (1.9km at 6.5%) and its portions at more than 14% will open the possibility of a puncher taking the Yellow Jersey at the conclusion of stage two. This Thursday, Bernard Hinault, present on the Manche route, believes the favourites for the general classification will be up front as early as the second stage, and could even take the honours. According to the five-time winner of the Tour de France “a rider capable of accelerating successive times late in the stage, like Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews, Joaquim Rodriguez or France’s Julian Alaphilippe and Alexis Vuilllermoz ».

L’Etape Grand Depart: the roads of the Tour open to everyone
This Thursday, the Utah Beach Museum hosted the official presentation of L’Etape Grand Depart, an all-new cyclosportive event that “will inaugurate a week of festivities dedicated to cycling across the entire Manche region”, as confirmed by the President of the Grand Départ Tour de France 2016 association, Jean-Francois Le Grand. This new happening will offer amateur riders the opportunity this coming June 26 to ride on the roads of the Tour. Three courses (189 km, 80 km and 44 km) will give everyone their chance to ride where the professionals do and make the 2016 Grand Depart a sporting and popular event. Registration for L’Etape Grand Depart is now open on http://www.asochallenges.com as long as places remain available.