In 188 days the 96th edition of the Tour de France, the Tour de France 2009, will start in Monaco.

Just after the Tour de France it'll again be time for the Tour du Limousin, which exists for over 40 years now. In this article you can first read a bit about the history of the Tour du Limousin, the first information about the Tour du Limousin 2009 stages and a flashback on the Tour du Limousin 2008.

The history of the Tour du Limousin

The Tour du Limousin has been created in 1968 by colonel Louis Perrier.

On 29 April 1968 the very first Tour du Limousin started on the Champ de Juillet close to the Limoges train station. At that time the Tour du Limousin was reserved to amateurs and 12 amateur teams were present at the start of the first edition. The first winner was Pierre Martelozzo who shortly after that victory became a professional cyclist.

On that day the Tour du Limousin organiser said: the Tour du Limousin is born today and will become big, very big, I promise you.
And indeed, despite the fact that he became a member of the board of directors of the Fédération Française de Cyclisme in 1962, became its Vice President in 1972 and President of the FFC's medical committee in 1974, he remained loyal to his Tour du Limousin, of which he remained a very active President up to 1991.
In May 1994 Louis Perrier died and at that time he obtained the title of Honorary President of the Tour du Limousin.

Until 1974 the Tour du Limousin was exclusively reserved to amateurs, from 1975 exclusively to professional cyclist and only in 1981 it was open to both professional and amateur cyclists.
In 1971 the Tour du Limousin opened up internationally and in 1975 it became a professional cycling race because Richard Marillier (national technical director) was looking for a race which could serve as the very final test before the World Championships.

The Tour du Limousin is part of the UCI Europe Tour in the 2.1 category.

The Tour du Limousin 2009 stages

On 28 November the Tour du Limousin organisation committee announced the start and finish places of the stages of the 42nd edition of the Tour du Limousin. This edition will start on Tuesday 18 August 2009.


> first stage - Tuesday 18 August 2009 - Limoges (Haute-Vienne) > Ussel (Corrèze)


> second stage - Wednesday 19 August 2009 - Eymoutiers (Haute-Vienne) > Felletin (Creuse)


> third stage - Thursday 20 August 2009 - Saint-Martin-de-Jussac (Haute-Vienne) > Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne)


> fourth stage - Friday 21 August 2009 - Châlus (Haute-Vienne) > Limoges (Haute-Vienne)

To allow you to get a better view of where these start- and finish cities are located I created a map with Google Maps in which I draw these 4 stages. Of course the route as shown on the map is purely hypothetical because I had to draw a random line between the start- and finish city because currently only the cities have been announced.

The Tour du Limousin organisation committee hopes to be able to invite 17 teams (16 in 2008) in 2009, of which at most 9 Pro Tour teams.

Of course they will use the presence of the Tour de France 2009 (rest day on 13 July and stage Limoges > Issoudun on 14 July 2009) to promote the Tour du Limousin!

Flashback on the Tour du Limousin 2008

With a selection of the pictures the Tour du Limousin organisation committee sent me a while ago, you'll find a flashback on the Tour du Limousin 2008, the 41st edition which took place from 19 till 22 August 2008, below.
The route and stages of the Tour du Limousin 2008
All pictures are © Tour du Limousin. Click on a picture to view the original full-sized picture.

The first stage - Limoges > Guéret
The start of the first stage
The first stage of the 41st edition of the Tour du Limousin was won by the Irish rider Nicolas Roche (Stephen Roche's son). At that time he was in the Crédit Agricole team and in 2009 he will become a member of the AG2R La Mondiale team.

After a long escape by Nicolas Roche, Hannes Blank and Geoffroy Lequatre, Roche attacked at about ten kilometers from the finish. The two other riders were taken back by the pack and Roche could cross the finish line solitarily.
The escaped riders: Nicolas Roche, Hannes Blank and Geoffroy Lequatre
Steve Chainel (Auber 93 in 2008, Bouygues Telecom in 2009) finish second and José Joaquin Rojas Gil of the Caisse d'Epargne team third.
The first stage winner: Nicolas Roche
The second stage - Bellac > Bellac
The leader's jerseys: José Joaquin Rojas Gil, Hannes Blank, Nicolas Roche, Geoffroy Lequatre


The start of the second stage
After about 20 kilometers 4 riders escaped from the pack: Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne Armor Lux), Arnaud Gérard (Française des Jeux), Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel) and Julien Mazet (Astana in 2008, in 2009 he will go to Auber 93).
The 4 leaders see Frelontin who we usually see in the Tour de France
These riders were taken back at the very end of the stage but their efforts were rewarded by Jean Luc Delpech becoming the King of the Mountains, Nicolas Jalabert getting the green jersey as the sprinter and Julien Mazet winning the Coup de Coeur Intermarché des Mousquetaires trophy.
Arnaud Gérard, who kept fighting alone against the pack lead by the Caisse d'Epargne riders, won the right to wear the red number of the most competitive rider the next day.

Finally the Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro of the Japanese team Meitan Hompo GDR won the 2nd stage in a sprint. He already showed what he's capable of in 2006 in the Tour du Limousin when he missed the final win with only 5 seconds (he finished 3rd behind Duque and Fedrigo).
Finally Yukiya Arashiro wins the stage in a sprint
At the end of November the Bouygues Telecom team announced that this Japanese rider -who finished 3rd in the general ranking and as best young rider in the Tour du Limousin 2008- will become a member of the team from Vendée at 24 of age (from 2009). Jean-René Bernaudeau, the team's manager, said: We are always looking for something new and by opening up to a promissing Japanese rider we recognise the existence of a promissing new way of cycling which we don't really know.
Yukiya is able to become a big rider and he already showed he's capable of winning by getting some very important victories.

The third stage - Brive > Cublac
During this stage two groups of 3 and 25 riders got away from the pack before merging into a big group of 28 in front of a pack staying way behind.

Due to a hypoglycaemia Nicolas Roche lost almost 30 minutes in this stage and thus also his yellow jersey.
One of the nice views during the Tour du Limousin
The group of 28 riders was mostly lead by the Caisse d'Epargne team which had no less than 6 riders in it, but in the end the stage victory went to Sébastien Hinault (Crédit Agricole in 2008, in 2009 he will move to AG2R La Mondiale) who won the sprint.
Sébastien Hinault wins the stage in a sprint
The fourth and last stage - Chamborêt > Limoges
At the start of this stage 6 riders escaped from the pack: Mikael Cherel (Française des Jeux), Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne Armor Lux), Jonathan Thire (Auber 93), David Boucher (Landbouwkrediet), Carl Naibo (Differdange-Apiflo Vacances) and Matthieu Sprick (Bouygues Telecom). Since they all were more than 29 minutes behind the yellow jersey they were not at all dangerous for Sébastien Hinault so the pack allowed them to take an advance of up to 3'20". Even when arriving on the local circuit in Limoges this group was still ahead, but they were finally taken back at about 36 kilometers from the finish.
Several riders have tried to escape afterwards but without really managing to get away ... except for the last attack by Benoît Vaugrenard and Frédéric Guesdon (both Française des Jeux) with which Benoît Vaugrenard finally won this last stage of the Tour du Limousin 2008.
Benoît Vaugrenard wins the last stage
The Tour du Limousin 2008 winners
The last stage didn't really make any chance in the general ranking so Sébastien Hinault kept his yellow jersey and thus won the 41st edition of the Tour du Limousin.
He finished 1 second ahead of the Australian rider Allan Davis (Mitsubishi Jartazi) and of the Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro (Meitan Hompo - GDR).
Sébastien Hinault wins the Tour du Limousin 2008 ... and a Le Baronet lambie?
The other winners were Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne Armor Lux) who won the King of the Mountains and sprinter rankings and who was chosen as the most competitive rider, José Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse d'Epargne) who won the combined ranking, Yukiya Arashiro (Meitan Hompo GDR in 2008, Bouygues Telecom in 2009) as the best young rider and the Caisse d'Epargne team as the best team.

The Tour du Limousin website

More information about the Tour du Limousin can be found on the official website, www.tourdulimousin.com.

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Cycling general (except Tour de France) | Tour du Limousin

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