The Tour de France 2021 will speak Breton and leave Brest! Initially, the start of the Grande Boucle next year was to be given, for the first time in the history of the event, from Copenhagen. But the Danish capital was found in collateral damage of the postponements of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the Euro football where it will be the host city.
Stuck by the dates of football and the refusal of the IOC to postpone the men's road cycling event at the end of the Olympics, Copenhagen has found it impossible to organize the start in 2021. The city passes its turn but for only one year since ASO, the organizer of the Tour, has announced that it will host it in 2022.
This sleight of hand was possible because ASO urgently found a candidate. It will be Brest, which had already been the city of Grand Départ in 1952, 1974 and 2008. In 2018, it also saw the start of the 6th stage.
Four stages in Brittany
“This is the first time in the history of the Tour de France that a city will give the Grand Départ for the fourth time,” enthuses Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour. The number "4" will be in the spotlight because the region will also host four stages. “Since I have been leading the event in 2007, this had never happened, enthuses Prudhomme. But let's not say that Brittany was a plan B. Or B like Brittany or Brest. No, it was a plan A just brought forward a year. "
Initially, the idea of the organizers was to give the keys to the start in Rennes. But the elected ecologists of the municipal majority opposed the project. As much for philosophical reasons as against the cost (700,000 euros) claimed by ASO. Brest did not have this problem because the elected ecologists do not have a blocking majority. “When the president of the Brittany region, Loïg Chesnais-Girard called me, confides François Cuillandre, the mayor of Brest, I asked for a few hours of reflection. And I said yes. It is such a gift. "