BOULOGNE-SUR-MER;
• Stage town on 3 previous occasions
• 43,800 inhabitants
• Subprefecture of Pas-de-Calais (62)
Although the two last stages of the Tour which ended in Boulogne-sur-Mer were sprint finishes, with the victories of the Dutch Jean-Paul Van Poppel in 1994, and of the German Erik Zabel in 2001, the profile of the third stage is ideal for initiatives like those which allowed Pierrick Fédrigo and Sylvain Chavanel to obtain the French Champion’s jersey. In 2005, the air of the town greatly inspired Fédrigo, who also won the Four Days of Dunkirk’s pink leader jersey a few weeks earlier.
Name
The name Boulogne was first recorded during the Roman Empire as Bononia, possibly a derivative of the root found in the Germanic word bona meaning "plank floor", related to "Bühne", German for theater stage[1] and also found in Vindobona, the Roman name for Vienna. A "bona" was probably a granary. This derivation is also found in the name of the Italian city of Bologna. This city was founded by the celtic Boii. "Sur mer" is French meaning "on the sea".
