Tour De France 2011 ( Stage 7)

The Château Raoul – property of the

Indre general council©

Ville de Châteauroux

Stage 7 - Le Mans Châteauroux 218 km

• Stage town on 2 previous occasions
• 49, 000 inhabitants
• Prefecture of Indre (36)

The ’Château Raoul’ is the name of the town’s fifth century château, which belonged to Lord Raoul Le Large, and from whom Châteauroux got its name. The town is also the birthplace of celebrated French actor Gérard Depardieu. Châteauroux is a sporting town that boasts 12,000 practitioners across around 50 different sports, with 35 kilometres of bike paths and 193 secure bike parks in which to lock up your pride and joy.

Among the town’s main sports clubs are the Berrichonne football team, the 2004 French Cup finalists, the elite level Castelroussin 36 triathlon club and the Rugby Athlétique Club Castelroussin, who ply their trade in the second division.
Situated two hours from Paris, Châteauroux is well known for its metallurgy and farm-produce industries, but also for its expertise in aeronautics, electronics and information technology, ensuring development in the high-tech sectors. The future combines the new HEI school of engineering and an 850-hectare international business park built adhering to the ’High Quality Environment standard’ principles of sustainable development.

The only two stage finishes that took place in Châteauroux were ten years apart, with the victory of two exceptional sprinters, who together have notched up a total of 27 stages wins. Indeed, in1998 Mario Cipollini was the winner in the prefecture town of Indre. Then in 2008, Mark Cavendish experienced his first stage win on the Tour in Châteauroux. Since then the town has continued to host the Châteauroux-Classic de l’Indre, where Jimmy Casper and Anthony Ravard were successful during the last two editions.