Normally, the departure village is the place where Tour de France officials and elected officials sympathize and are ecstatic about the presence of the Grande Boucle in their town.
But Wednesday morning, the podium set up in Grenoble (Isère) for the start of the 17th stage of the Tour de France was the scene of a much more political speech from the boss of the race, Christian Prudhomme.
The latter took advantage of his speech and the presence of Eric Piolle, mayor of Europe-Ecologie Les Verts (ELLV), to respond to the criticisms of the Tour de France launched by elected ecologists from Rennes, then by the mayor (EELV) of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, contemptuous of a “macho and polluting” race.
"Maybe we are not moving fast enough in some areas, but we are working," said Christian Prudhomme in a video posted on social networks.
Do you know that at Mount Aigoual
(Editor's note: where did the 6th stage arrive),
we installed anti-straying nets for people?
Everything is done in collaboration, we talk to people.
Only discussion, not to mention in the media first, can help.
It's just common sense.
"
"Don't break what brings people together"
“The Tour de France is an event which unites, which brings together, he insists.
Don't break what brings people together!
There are so many communitarianisms, people who separate.
The Tour is so much more than the greatest cycling race in the world.
The Tour is our country!
"
“We will be in Haute-Saône on Saturday, at the Planche des Belles Filles: 35% of unemployed at the bottom of the valley, people who bowed their heads and lifted them up.
Thanks to the Tour, they raise their heads, he chanted like a political leader.
Because they see their village, Plancher-les-Mines in Haute-Saône, which is shown around the world.
And they are proud!
I am sure that in this magnificent department of Isère, I am sure that in Grenoble, in the metropolis, in the city, people are proud.
And they are even more so in our rural areas.
"
“But what brings us together, what unites us, is just common sense.
Tapping on what unites us is not a mistake, it's a mistake, ”he concludes, applauded by the audience.
Including Eric Piolle, who welcomed the start of the Tour from his city on social networks.
💚💛 The Tour de France 2020, in Grenoble, capital of cycling!
@LeTour 💛💚 pic.twitter.com/ulfU9ZxEt9
- Éric Piolle (@EricPiolle) September 16, 2020