The Puy-de-Dôme has the effect of a Madeleine de Proust on cycling enthusiasts. Talk about its rise and they will spontaneously tell you about the Anquetil-Poulidor shoulder-to-shoulder duel in 1964 which divided France in two. But on the occasion of its passage in Auvergne for the 13th stage this Friday from Châtel-Guyon, the riders of the Tour 2020 did not take the steep mountain road with an antenna, visible to tens of kilometers and which overlooks Clermont-Ferrand.
The organizers of the event preferred to climb the Pas de Peyrol to arrive at the top of Puy Mary (1589 m). Do not see any malice on the part of the track manager Thierry Gouvenou and his teams. The Puy-de-Dôme is now prohibited for automobile traffic and a rack and pinion train occupies half the roadway to the summit.
The duel Anquetil-Poulidor
"There are two major obstacles to the passage of the Tour," says Jean-Yves Goutebel, president of the Puy-de-Dôme departmental council. The first is technical and poses security concerns. The summit ends in a cul-de-sac with no reversal possible. And the space occupied by the train would prevent emergency vehicle traffic. Finally there is an environmental obstacle. "
Since 2008, the site has received the Grand site de France label. A distinction which has as a corollary a demanding specification which requires reducing impact and human activity. Hence, for example, the installation of the train in 2012 and the withdrawal of the car park from the summit. Finally, for just two years, the mountain has been listed as a chain of Puys World Heritage by Unesco. Inspectors from the UN agency would be very suspicious of the arrival of supporters on the slopes.
For Jean-Yves Goutebel, the game is not worth the candle: "We will not spoil eleven months of work with Unesco". Above all, the city councilor insists that the decision does not come from a personal position, but from the special status of Puy-de-Dôme. "It is not an anti-Tour de France position, but an impossibility of hosting it on the site in terms of constraints," we summarize in his entourage.
A petition launched
Some diehards do not despair of making the local authorities influence. An association - "Return of the Tour to Puy-de-Dôme" - was even created for the occasion. Its founders who launched a petition in parallel believe that the obstacles raised could be overcome, the specifications lightened with restricted or even prohibited public access. And to quote the arrival at the top of the Col du Galibier in 2011 or the absence of spectators in the narrow laces of Montvernier in 2015.
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It is death in the soul that the boss of the Tour still does not include the giant of Auvergne in the program. He who keeps repeating that on his arrival at ASO in 2007, he set himself as "objective the Puy-de-Dôme". Christian Prudhomme agrees with the arguments put forward by the heads of the department while specifying that his teams have proven in the recent past his ability to "adapt to all situations". “The Tour at Puy-de-Dôme can only be done with the will of the department. I repeat, but we are road tenants. "
Before concluding by showing us a message from Romain Bardet, like at home on these Auvergne routes: “The 13th stage will still look great. The images will be magnificent. And Romain told me about the Néronne pass - no Peyrol, it was very strong. "
