This is a professional event on the UCI calendar. 200 cadets, junior girls and boys, U23 hopefuls, elite women and elite men start from the launch pad in front of Les Herbiers town hall. The different courses all finish in front of the train station. In the interests of sporting parity and equality, the women will have the same prize money as the men.
The best time-trial specialists, such as world number 1 Primoz Roglic in 2019, Olympic champion in Tokyo, like to compete for a prestigious victory in a prize list that includes such great names in cycling as Stefan Kung, Alexandre Vinokourov, Tony Martin, Sylvain Chavanel and David Millar...
Today, as you climb towards Mouchamps or cross St Paul en Pareds, the distances range from 16.650km for the young riders to 45.430km for the pros.