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Tour de France Stage 4 Preview

This course is short and intense, but also smooth, so solitary specialists should take the first spots, yet without creating any significant time lead.

Depart and arrive: Cholet
Twice a stage town.
Stage for the first time in 1936; winner: Félicien Vervaecke.
Most recently in 1998; winner: Jeroen Blijlevens.
Sub-prefecture town of the Maine-et-Loire.
56.300 inhabitants.

Sports have always taken center stage in Cholet, named France’s top sporting town in 2007 by the sports magazine l’Equipe. Promoted for their educational and social values, sports are a school of determination and excellence, providing a fitting image for a town which prides itself on audacity and entrepreneurship. Nearly a third of Cholet’s inhabitants practice one sport or another, and its pro basketball team Cholet Basket has staked its claim amongst the French and European elite. The city council actively supports over 80 amateur clubs. Looking towards the future, Cholet has invested in sports facilities such as a multi-sports arena and the GlisséO complex combining pool and ice rink. Ever dynamic, Cholet hosts sporting events which meet with great public acclaim. In Cholet, sports are a way of life!