The wedding hall of the town hall of Oinville-sur-Montcient was transformed into a bicycle club this Friday.
On the seats and against the walls, traffic signs for Paris-Nice are piling up, waiting to be placed along the roads.
On Monday, the village of 1,100 inhabitants will host the start of the second stage of this week of elite competition (from March 7 to 14), the first major stage race of the year.
"This is the first time that we have organized an event of this magnitude", welcomes Mayor (SE) Stéphane Jeanne, his hands resting on his state-of-the-art bike.
For this fan of the little queen, who schedules all his “summer holidays according to the places of passage of the Tour de France, it is an intense personal joy to receive Paris-Nice.
"
A time trial is therefore committed for the forty volunteers and municipal staff, soon ready to greet the best cyclists in the world.
The Slovenian Primoz Roglic (winner of the Tours of Italy and Spain in 2020) and Arnaud Démare (reigning French champion) will notably be present.
An event that "enhances our territory"
In front of the town hall, some still clean the location of the podium, while others line up the barriers around the village hall.
The rendering must be perfect for the athletes, but also for the Eurosport and France 3 cameras deployed on site.
In the town hall's wedding hall, road signs are waiting to be placed along the roads.
This unique craze was made possible by a special device.
For almost ten years now, a partnership between the Yvelines department and the organizer Amaury Sport Organization (ASO, also responsible for the Tour de France) has offered candidate rural municipalities the start of the second stage of the event.
After Orsonville in 2018, Les Bréviaires in 2019 and Chevreuse in 2020, Oinville-sur-Montcient was chosen.
"We can not define rurality better than at home," smiles the mayor.
Here, we are farmers.
This partnership
(Editor's note: extended until 2025)
is a good thing.
It shows and enhances our territory.
"
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Another positive point: the department “took charge of the costs, explains Stéphane Jeanne.
It will cost us only a few hundred euros for breakfast, as well as guarding the podium and our stands ”.
But the party will still remain imperfect.
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The event will take place entirely behind closed doors.
“It's a big regret, admits the mayor.
Without an audience, it's very frustrating.
Going to see a school principal to tell her that the activities with the children have been canceled, it's difficult.
“Selected a year ago for the organization of the start of the stage, the municipality had indeed worked to include schools in the project.
No prize giving to the stage winner
“We had planned a lot of awareness-raising around cycling, an ecological, sporty and healthy means of transport… Everything fell apart.
Fortunately, the department will still organize an intervention, Monday morning, at the college of Montcient, with Thomas Voeckler (double champion of France) and Sandy Casar (winner of three stages on the Tour de France).
But there will be no external or associative events, as we would have liked.
"
Worse, the volunteers and the municipal team will not even be able to approach the peloton, nor give prizes to the stage winner.
Two health bubbles have been established: one around the organizers and guests, and one around the cycling teams.
“To my great despair, I will see them from afar, plague the mayor.
There will be this frustration of not being able to exchange.
But that's the protocol.
"
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Precaution is also in order, since the situation could deteriorate.
“I have to test negative within 72 hours of departure in order to be there.
My anxiety is to be positive, it would be a disaster.
“But for now, Stéphane Jeanne prefers to be positive.
“The pressure and excitement are building up little by little.
In addition, we are announcing good weather!
"
