From Tours, the stage leaves the rhythm of the Loire and climbs onto the Touraine plateau. Roads narrow, villages fall quiet, and around Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine the day feels shaped by markets, pale stone and goat cheese. The route then drops towards the Vienne Valley: Maillé, Nouâtre, Dangé-Saint-Romain, waterways and long bridges. Châtellerault adds an urban riverfront with the Pont Henri-IV before the final kilometres roll through open fields and suburbs into Poitiers – Romanesque, hilly and bright.
