Tour de France Stage 4 - Montpellier

Today, the tour de France starts and ends in one of France's loveliest Southern cities and the capital of the splendid Languedoc region.

Here is the Tour de France description of Montpellier:

• 28-time stage-town
• Population 250,000
• Capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon Region - Prefecture of Hérault (34)

Bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Montpellier is the capital of a region with a population growth rate that makes it one of the fastest growing cities in France. Montpellier is a harmonious blend of innovation and Mediterranean-style art of living inherent with tradition, and a sense of community and citizenship. The city remains steeped in the rich inheritance received from the scholars, doctors and thinkers who arrived from both sides of the "Mare Nostrum" to study, teach and exchange academic knowledge.

Enriched by its millennial past, Montpellier is today a dynamic city of 250 000 inhabitants at the heart of an urban community of over 400 000. Over the last twenty years, 35 000 jobs have been created in Montpellier, promoting the emergence of cutting edge technologies with high intellectual value: fine chemistry, health, pharmaceutics, information technologies, environment, tropical and Mediterranean agronomy, but also tourism, which accounts for close to 6 500 jobs. Today, nearly 32 000 companies are already settled in the urban community of Montpellier, a figure that is destined to increase in the next fifteen years, enough to confirm Montpellier’s position among the economic capitals of Southern Europe.

Find out more: Tour de France 2009 | Montpellier, France | Languedoc Region

_{Photo of Montopellier © Michael Carr}