The Tour teams, organizations, and media usually stay in the start town for the next stage during the rest day. For the first rest day of this year's Tour, the start for Stage 10 is on the Île D'oléron Le Château-D'oléron, which has a population of only 4,200, this was a logistical impossibility. Therefore, the Tour located its rest day on the mainland nearby at La Charente-Maritime.
The view from the coast includes a strange building popping out of the sea between the Isle of Oléron and the Isle of Aix. Fort Boyard was a French boondoggle which began construction under Napoleon, stopped and restarted several times before its completion in 1857. By then, its supposed reason and location, fortifying the line between the two islands because artillery could not reach the midpoint, became moot as cannon technology progressed. The fort was abandoned and was never used for its intended purpose.
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