After the Tour de France, the UCI cycling calendar for August in France shows 4 stage races. These are first of all the Tour de l'Ain which started this Tuesday in Bourg-en-Bresse, La Mi-August en Bretagne starting on Thursday, the Tour du Limousin starting next Tuesday and the Tour Poitou-Charentes starting the following Tuesday.

The last mentioned race is composed of 5 stages in 4 days and in this article you'll be able to discover all details of these stages with their time- and route schedules and the race course on Google Maps/Google Earth. For the first time this year, the race can be followed live with the GPS position of the race on these maps.

The Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 race course in Google Maps

The Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 has a total distance of 656.1 kilometers, split in 4 stages in line with a total distance of 635.6 kilometers and an individual time trial which is 20.5 kilometers long.

1/ Tuesday 23 August 2011 - Surgères > Cognac - 184.2 km

After the start on the Place du Château in Surgères, the riders will go towards the sea and to the first intermediate sprint in La Garbadelière before returning to Surgères where they'll find the second intermediate sprint.

Once they left the start city, the riders will quickly get into the feeding zone in Saint-Mard and they will continue south-eastwards. When they get close to the finish city, they'll first turn around it by visiting Bourg-Charente and Gensac-la-Pallue before they cross the finish line for the first time on the Place du Champ de Foire in Cognac. They'll than follow a circuit on the east side of the city before the second and final crossing of the finish line.

In this flat stage of 184.2 kilometers they'll find 3 climbs which attribute points for the King of the Mountains classification.

Below you can find the time- and route schedule, the stage profile and a map with the stage course on Google Maps for this stage. Click on each of the images to open them.

2/ Wednesday 24 August 2011 - Cognac > Bressuire - 175.2 km

The second stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 is also a stage in line, which will start on the Esplanade de la Croix Montamette (Boulevard Oscar Planat) in the city where the race finished the day before, Cognac. After the start, the stage will go northwards, turning around Niort, and visiting the 3 intermediate sprints of this stage, which will be in Matha, Epannes and Neuvy-Bouin. The feeding zone will be in between Saint-Rémy and Saint-Maxire and this stage will have 4 referenced climbs, one of which will be in the local circuit around the finish city, Bressuire. This circuit is on the south side of the finish city, between Bressuire and Boismé and at the second crossing of the finish line on the Place Saint-Jacques, we'll know the name of the winner of this second stage.

Below you can find the time- and route schedule, the stage profile and a map with the stage course on Google Maps for this stage. Click on each of the images to open them.

3/ Thursday 25 August 2011 - Bressuire > Châttellerault - 104.8 km

This third stage will be another stage in line. It will be a quite short stage, only 104.8 kilometers, to allow the riders to do the individual time trial in the afternoon.

After the start from the Place Saint-Jacques in Bressuire the riders will almost follow a straight line east towards the finish in Châtellerault.

On their way they'll find two referenced climbs and one intermediate sprint, in Scorbé-Clairvaux. As usual, the stage ends in a local circuit around the finish city. However, the route of this circuit might change before the start of the Tour Poitou-Charentes because of the road works which are currently ongoing in Châtellerault.

Below you can find the time- and route schedule, the stage profile and a map with the stage course on Google Maps for this stage. Click on each of the images to open them.

4/ Thursday 25 August 2011 - Châtellerault > Châtellerault - CLM - 20.5 km

This 4th stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 will take place in the afternoon of Thursday 25 August 2011 and will be an individual time trial. With only 20.5 kilometers and turning around the city of Châtellerault, it seems to be made for a time trial specialist.

The start will be on the D14 which the riders will follow until La Justice where they'll turn right. After Balange they'll again turn right to get on the D9. When they're close to the Aérodrôme de Châtellerault-Targé, they'll again turn right to go to Targé where they'll turn left towards the city center of Châtellerault. They'll do a final right turn to get on the Avenue du Maréchal Leclerc where the finish will be at the Rue Jean Pidou.

Below you can find the time- and route schedule, the stage profile and a map with the stage course on Google Maps for this stage. Click on each of the images to open them.

5/ Friday 26 August 2011 - Saint-Jacques-de-Thouars > Poitiers - 171.4 km

The fifth and last stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 will take place on Friday 26 August and will again be a stage in line, between Saint-Jacques-de-Thouars and Poitiers over a distance of 171.4 kilometers.

The riders will not follow the most direct route towards Poitiers because there are some sprints to be battled for of this most direct road, in Martaizé and Lencloître before they go find the points for the KOM classification close to Beaumont and Vouneuil-sur-Vienne.

The feeding zone will be in Bellefonds, just like the forelast climb of the race. The last sprint will be in Bonnes before they get on the local circuit around Poitiers which they get on in Saint-Georges-lès-Baillargeaux. The local circuit is on the north side of Poitiers and includes the climb of the Côte de la Barre (500 meters @ 11%). It's only at the third crossing of the finish line in the Rue de Nimègue that we'll know the winner of the final stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 and thus the overall winner.

Below you can find the time- and route schedule, the stage profile and a map with the stage course on Google Maps for this stage. Click on each of the images to open them.

The race course of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 in Google Earth

You have just discovered all details of the different stages of this 25th Tour Poitou-Charentes including the time- and route schedules and the stage profiles and for each of the stage a Google Maps version of the parcours.

If you'd like to see the whole race route of the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011, you can download the KML file below and open it in Google Earth.
>> Download the Tour Poitou-Charentes 2011 race course in Google Earth

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour Poitou-Charentes | OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/Google Earth

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