The exercise was closely scrutinized by the authorities and the organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The national test for the Olympic Flame route was held without incident this Friday, March 22, 2024 in Aube.
No less than 94 torch bearers and nearly 580 police officers and gendarmes were mobilized for what was only a rehearsal.
For this exercise the “flame” was not lit.
His torch passed through Ville-sous-le-Ferté, Nogent-sur-Seine, Dolancourt, Romilly-sur-Seine, Mesnil-Saint-Père and Troyes.
Also read “It makes you want to see it in real life”: we followed the rehearsal of the Olympic torch relay
Although certain roads were blocked during the passage of the convoys, this experiment does not seem to have disrupted the daily lives of the people of Aubois.
On the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in Troyes, many curious people came to attend this dress rehearsal.
Curious, Geneviève came with a friend after reading the newspapers.
“We don’t know at all how this will play out,” she laughed.
For his part, Christophe confided that he had been informed of the organization of this test thanks to friends.
“I think that this event will make the city known thanks to the media coverage,” estimated the Trojan.
A few meters away, Gérard was installed behind the barriers which demarcated the course.
This former sportsman is already ready for the real passage of the Olympic Flame, on July 13 in Aube.
“We still want to see the rehearsal.
It didn’t bother us in our daily lives, we were even eager to see how the rehearsal would go,” he says.
On July 13, the Olympic torch will pass through seven towns in Aube: Dolancourt, Ervy-le-Châtel, Mesnil-Saint-Père, Nogent-sur-Seine, Romilly-sur-Seine, Ville-sous-la-Ferté and Troyes.
It will also shine along the lakes of the Forêt d'Orient, at the Nigloland amusement park or even at Clairvaux Abbey.
Also read: Routes, cities, porters... everything you need to know about the Torch Relay
At the end of this major evaluation, a guard of honor was organized near the Cube, the Troyes performance hall, to celebrate the arrival of the last torchbearer.
After some apprehension, the deputy director of the Torch Relay said he was “very happy with this day”.
“The objective was to check what we have been planning for three months, in terms of the flame bearers or the two convoys” recalls Grégory Murac.
If the management of the timing has been respected, there are still a few “small things that will have to be refined before May 8”, the date of the official start of the Olympic Torch Relay.
In particular, he would like the convoy to be more grouped between the passage of the sponsors' vehicles and the torch bearers.
“But it’s just coordination and debriefing to adjust all that,” he says.
“For July 13, we will have a slight advantage over the other departments”
François Baroin, mayor of Troyes
For his part, the president of the Aube departmental council reports a “very positive assessment”, in particular thanks to “the cohesion between all the forces in the territory to mobilize in relation to this issue”.
Philippe Pichery was also happy to see the crowd cheering the torch bearers.
Even if this test is not the real journey of the Olympic Flame in Aube, it proves that the people of Aubois are not “insensitive to this event which promises to be unforgettable”, he enthuses.
The mayor of Troyes also said he was “impressed by the popular nature” of this dress rehearsal.
The operation was also successful for the City services who trained hard “to guarantee the safety of the route”, according to François Baroin.
“To host the Torch Relay on July 13, we will have a slight advantage over the other departments which have not prepared,” underlines the elected official.
The prefect of Dawn can finally breathe after “several months of preparation”.
Cécile Dindar held a series of coordination meetings and reconnaissance visits to the field to prepare this evaluation.
The senior official assures that “the rehearsal went generally well” but new debriefings will be organized in order to welcome, in complete safety, the Flamebearers in Aube and throughout the country.