The course for the 103rd Tour was announced in Paris yesterday, and the first stage will start on the coast near the island of Mont Saint-Michel on Saturday 2 July.
From there riders will race north along the Normandy coast, parallel to the east coast of Jersey, to Utah Beach – one of the sites where allied forces invaded France on D-Day.
During the second stage competitors will cycle north from Saint-Lô to Cherbourg-Octeville.
In 2013 hundreds of Islanders travelled to St Malo to watch the Tour when there was a stage finish just outside the old town’s historic walls.
Cyclist Chris Spence, who represented Jersey at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur (1998), Manchester (2002), Delhi (2010) and Glasgow (2014), said having such a prestigious event so close to the Island could inspire more youngsters to get involved in the sport, which continues to increase in popularity.
‘Every year we get quite a few people go across to watch the Tour. It’s been in Brittany before, and now with it coming to Normandy it will be good to get more and more people across to view it, and hopefully it will inspire some more people to get out and get involved with cycling,’ he said.
The race will also go through Angers and Saumur in the Loire, as well as Limoges, Carcassonne, Montpellier and Chantilly.
