The last visit of the Tour de France dates back to 2009 when Nicki Sorensen raised his arms after a solo helped by the team-mates of then overall leader Rinaldo Nocentini, who did not chase behind the Dane. The next day, mineral water was replaced by rain as Australian Heinrich Haussler, who was riding for Germany at the time, clinched his only Tour stage after a 50-km break in the Vosges hills.
Vittel was also host to the 1968 Grand Depart, which saw Alsatian Charly Grosskost win the prologue like he had done in the Giro and in Paris-Nice. The Frenchman held the yellow jersey for two days. In 1990, Dutchman Jelle Nijdam outrsprinted the pack for the stage win. Vittel is also one of the Tour's main partners and hands out more than a million water bottles on the roads each since 2008.
