SPORT24. - What are the reasons that forced you to shake up the 2021 Tour calendar?
Christian PRUDHOMME. - The coronavirus pandemic, the decision of both the IOC to postpone the Olympic Games from 2020 to 2021 and the decision of the Uefa to postpone the Euro from 2020 to 2021 as well. The road cycling events of the rescheduled Olympics fell on the arrival weekend of the Tour de France, we hoped that this could change, obviously this was not possible and at the same time Copenhagen city chosen for the great start Euro football hosts four matches, three group matches plus a round of 16. Regarding the perfectly legitimate request from the UCI to the Tour de France to move forward by a week, Copenhagen and the four Danish cities (Roskilde, Nyborg, Velje, Sönderborg) which very much want the Tour de France do not know how to do in terms of security, organization, logistics.
"We had planned to make announcements in the spring, the coronavirus has arrived, so no announcements."
How did Brittany come into play?
Since 2018, we have been discussing a new big start after that of 2008. We saw each other in the fall. We had planned to make announcements in the spring, the coronavirus has arrived, so no announcements. We could have resumed the course in the Hauts de France, except that we postponed the passage in Brittany in 2023. Our Breton friends have agreed to change, I am grateful to them. This is the year of changes, between the date changes for the 2020 Tour, we have talked a lot about dates this year ...
Is it difficult for the Tour to stay away from Brittany for a long time?
It is obvious. Like Hauts de France, also a cycling region. I could not see myself spending four years without going to Brittany, Bernard Hinault would have pulled one ear down and Jean-Paul Ollivier the other up. And I would have understood why… I would like to thank the General Council of Brittany, its communities, Brest which will be the setting for the big start, with four 100% Breton stages, more than in 2008, more than the passage of 2018. There are really the will to satisfy as many people as possible.
"Brittany is the eldest daughter of cycling"
Why Brittany?
Brittany is the eldest daughter of cycling. Four Tour de France winners, Bernard Hinault of course (winner in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985) but before him Louison Bobet (1953, 1954, 1955), the first to have won three consecutive victories, Jean Robic , winner of the Tour de la reprise (1947) who had won the Tour on the last day and before that Lucien Petit-Breton (1907, 1908). This will be the fourth big start from Brest (after 1952, 1974 and 2008), it is an absolute record. The great departures from Brittany have often accompanied exceptional champions who have won the Tour, 1952 Brest is Coppi, 1964 Rennes is Anquetil, 1974 Brest is Merckx, 1985 Plumelec Hinault, 1995 Saint-Brieuc is is Indurain. With the certainty of popular fervor, magnificent landscapes between the coasts and the interior. Thierry Gouvenou continues to track all the roads, we know that we will have a great start. 2008 was the Brittany region, 2021 it will be the Brittany region. I thank them for having anticipated at the very last moment. Why Brest? Because it's the end of the peninsula. It makes sense to return to the interior of the country afterwards. It is a strong will of the region with Loïg Chesnais-Girard, its president, of Brest and the Country of Brest, displayed by François Cuillandre, the mayor of Brest. And Jean-Yves Le Drian has never been very far.
Over the past few weeks, have you felt an even more marked attachment to the Tour de France?
We have seen, in recent weeks, letters from Breton communities falling, it sends a lot of messages naturally. We feel this force. I felt it more between spring and summer, even more than in other years in this special context. This attachment to the Tour is essential. Like the desire to cycle that I felt at the Route d'Occitanie. There is a will to live. I'm not a doctor, but if there is one thing that seems to emerge, it is that you have to learn to live with the virus, respect barrier gestures, put on masks, wash your hands again and again. Learn to live again. It is capital. In our life, there are also shows, culture, sport. In addition to the economic aspect. What marked me in July, during the passages planned in the cities on the initial dates of the Tour, both in Ardèche and Charente-Maritime, the elected officials and people who told me thanks for the Tour, it will announce the season, it's essential for us, having people a little later in September, it's essential. That Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism called me in April `` What's going on? '', That Atout France in Australia, the SBS channel which broadcasts the Tour asked me to do a video behind a clip that showed villages in France, saying: '' 2020 follow the Tour de France on television and in 2021, come back to see our beautiful country of France '', recalls that the Tour is the biggest cycling race to the world, of course, but it's more than that. In the international influence of France, 3, 4 or 5 hours a day to 100 countries live (images go to 190 countries), the Tour is important for the country, for tourism, for the economy of country. I have felt it even stronger this year, that's clear.
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What did you remember from your time on the Route d'Occitanie?
First of all smiles behind the masks. People masked at the start and at the finish. What was imagined together with the National Cycling League, with the FFC, with the UCI, with the French authorities and authorities, masks at the start and at the finish, distribution of gel with a canister in the back, tests before the start, an exceptional field, with the great pleasure of finding champions. Bernal who will win and already the beginnings of the duel interrupted last year with Thibaut Pinot just behind during the big mountain stage. The Route d'Occitanie is a real desire, it's beautiful, there was a respectful public, great champions, marches towards the Tour, before the Dauphiné (from August 12 to 16). The sanitary system on the Tour? Common sense indicates to put the mask everywhere ...
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