After a conference call at 11:30 am this Wednesday with the International Cycling Union, the representatives of the teams (the AIGCP), the representatives of the riders (the CPA) and the representatives of the organizers (the AIOCC), dates of the Tour (August 29-September 20) and the direction of the Tour de France, the dates of the largest cycling race in the world have been set, as well as those of the World Road Championship (September 27, at Aigle-Martigny, in Swiss). “It is a coordinated decision. It is not the Tour de France alone, it is the world of cycling as a whole, with obviously the International Cycling Union, with communities and state services, with L'Elysée, Matignon, at the Ministry Sports, with the gendarmerie, with the police, with the Prefects ", summarizes Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour. Before developing.
How did the Tour end up setting up in September?
Christian Prudhomme: We have been working on it the day after Paris-Nice (March 8-14) and the intervention of the President of the Republic on the evening of the 16th. The next day, we announced the postponement of Paris-Roubaix and the Ardennes classics. And I started to call the elected officials saying to them '' And if ... The Tour is for the moment maintained on the scheduled dates but obviously the most important is France, the health situation, and if we were brought to move the dates ... '', and the responses were overwhelmingly favorable. I think I never phoned as much as yesterday (Tuesday). I had 49 elected officials, mayors, presidents of agglo, presidents of departmental councils, presidents of regions, plus SMS exchanges with Roxana Maracineanu (Minister of Sports). All the statements were "Great, we will be there". From Christian Estrosi (mayor of Nice, city of the great departure) to Anne Hidalgo (mayor of Paris, part of the arrival), from the largest cities in France to small villages, everyone had the same reaction "We will be ready , we will adapt. " The mayor of Poitiers told me "It will be a great impetus, we will be present, good news. We are not a month away". Impressive reactions. I thought about what Jean-Marie Leblanc (director of the Tour from 1989 to 2006) when he left the Tour, spoke to the troops during a farewell party, he started with "everywhere a friend". I saw this very strongly. People want the Tour first, the biggest cycling race in the world, the link, the bond, the enhancement of the territories of the territories, the strength of the Tour for the economy and tourism but despite everything not only that. Everyone replied "Yes". The mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse said to me: "The Tour de France, even offbeat, it's still the Tour de France". The mayor of Sorigny, near Poitiers, texted me this morning saying, "We have to do a drawing contest for confined children." I think it's great. We will try to put it in place. What great reactions.
Logistically, was it easy to move a city on Tour?
When we were asked the question of Pierre-Yves Thouault, my assistant, and me, we replied at the same time "It's not possible". And then once we said that, it's a little bit the famous formula: "It's impossible? So I believe in it". At one point, we thought if the only chance there was the Tour was to move it, we got down to it. By quickly testing elected officials. With regular conferences with the organizers, with the representatives of the riders, with the National Cycling League, with the State services… All of this is coordinated. After the announcement by the President of the Republic announcing that there would be no major events before mid-July, we said that we had to give an answer as soon as possible.
"This Tour is a layer, it's the same course since everyone said yes."
Are there any changes in the course, the course of the race?
No, this Tour is a layer, it's the same route since everyone said yes. It will be the Tour with the great departure from Nice, with its great mountain stages, Puy Mary, the Grand Colombier, the discovery of the Col de la Lozes, the breakaway in Charentes Maritimes, the passage to Sarran, the passage to Saint -Léonard de Noblat with Raymond Poulidor who would have been 84 years old today. After that, at the margin there are adaptations because we had been authorized to go through such a large agglomeration in July and that it will perhaps be more complicated in September, it is quite possible, it will have to adapt. It's true for everyone and for us too. But this will not touch the emblematic peaks of the Tour because there will be a few kilometers more or less because we will no longer be able to cross the agglomeration in the same way. Formally, all the Prefectural meetings had been held, except that of Haute-Savoie, one of the first centers of contamination. The prefecture meeting had been postponed. It's the only. Maybe more will be needed again. You'll have to double-check everything. We will also have to adapt. This is our daily lot, as we adapted on the road to Tignes last summer, as we adapted in 2013 in Bastia when the coach of the Orica GreenEdge team was embedded in the gantry of the finish line… The most important thing in Tour de France is France, it is the situation of the country. It is also to have a hope, a goal, a goal with this Tour. Marc Madiot had told me recently: "In a few days I won't know what to say to my runners anymore". We set the Tour on other dates, two months later, which we had not imagined at first. And then, as a simple citizen with everything that can be read, said to each other, then with the information transmitted by the state services telling us that the deconfinement would not be done all at once but little by little, we s '' says '' Let's go as far as possible '' so that the Tour de France has a meaning, with the best riders in the world but also with still summer, certainly with children in class, maybe a little less world, fewer foreigners… which could be an asset this year for an event that really makes sense and that will be like a symbol of rebirth in a way.
"Rediscovering roadside smiles with people who learn to smile in a certain way."
What will be the watchword of this Tour?
Rediscover roadside smiles with people who will learn to smile again in a certain way, even if I am well aware, as specialists say, living with the virus for a while. We have gone as far as we can hope for the pandemic. The good thing we have in the world of cycling is that there is no doubt that the Tour de France is the largest cycling race in the world. This is perfectly accepted in meetings with the UCI, the representatives of the riders ... The Tour is the hub. We set the Tour because we realized that the dates of the Tour were not set, during the meetings, we turned in a vacuum. With the Tour, the World Championships, it is then possible to make a calendar with reference events, such as the Dauphiné which will have to find its place, perhaps shorter, as a reference event and as an essential preparation test , so that little by little, during August there will be a new calendar and so that the riders can prepare for the Tour de France. David Lappartient (the president of the UCI) has never stopped repeating it and we are in total agreement that it was necessary to defend the three great Tours and the Monuments, even if I can perfectly understand the concern of the race organizers "Smaller" saying I had a race in September, the GP of Isbergues, GP of Fourmies, Tour du Doubs ... I understand their concern but it is a question of saving the season.
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