Plouay

Plouay (Ploue) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.

Plouay hosts the GP Ouest-France and the GP de Plouay, annual cycling races (a men's and women's race, respectively). It was also the location of the UCI Road World Championships in 2000. The Tour de France has visited this town three times: in 1998, 2002 and in 2006.

Population
Inhabitants of Plouay or Ploue are called Plouaysiens in French and Plouead (Ploueiz), Ploueadez (-ed) in Breton.

Geography
Plouay is located in the west of Morbihan, 13 km northwest of Hennebont and 18.5 km north of Lorient. Historically, it belongs to Vannetais. The river Scorff forms the commune's western border. The area is hilly and forest-covered. Apart from the village centre, there are many hamlets in the commune.

History
The oldest surviving parish registers date back to 1576. The marquis of Pontcallec had in the seventeenth century in the village of Plouay court, prison, pillory and gallows with four pillars.

Breton language
The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 10 February 2006.

In 2008, 11.56% of the children in Plouay attended Breton-French bilingual classes in primary education.

Twin towns
Plouay is twinned with Pershore in England.