Montauban, a cycling stronghold

Since the start of the 1980s, US Montauban 82 emerged as one of the leading cycling clubs in the South West of France. Led by Max Carcy, the club had in its ranks several pro riders, the most famous of all being Laurent Jalabert. The former world number one does not however only keep good memories of the prefecture of Tarn-et-Garonne, in which he suffered a serious bike accident in 2013. Among the other pros to have ridden for Montauban were Frenchmen Stephane Barthe or Russian Alexandre Botcharov. The most famous Montauban-born rider, Didier Rous, the French road champion in 2001 and 2003, was for his part tied to the neighbouring club of CA Castelsarrasin, in which he was in charge of the under-23 national training centre before becoming sports director with Cofidis. Another local rider, Mathieu Perget, rode the Tour de France in 2010 with team Caisse d'Epargne. The town of painter Ingres only held one Tour stage in 1998 and it went to France's Jacky Durand.