Stage 4: Wednesday, July 7 - 194.5 km (121 miles)

Laval		Blois
(Societe du Tour de France)		(Societe du Tour de France)

Cradle of the Vendée opposition forces to King Louis XIV, Laval has long been an important textile center specialized in linen and cotton. It has also been the home to numerous innovators and pioneers such as Ambroise Paré, the father of surgery, the 19th century naive painting master Henri "le Douanier" Rousseau, the writer Alfred Jarry and the navigator Alain Gerbaut.

City of art and history, Blois was the royal residency of Louis XII and François I. The chateau is generally regarded as a major architectural monument in French art. Constructed in the 13th century, renovated in the Renaissance, and finally modernized by François Mansart in the 17th century, the chateau was classified as a historical monument in 1840 under the initiative of Prosper Mérimée.

Climbs: Km 129.3 - Beaumont-la-Ronce Climb: 1.1 km at 3.2%

Start: Cours de la Résistance
Finish: Avenue du Président Wilson