A round of France that starts in New York or Dubai? “Never say never”

A sea of ​​yellow caps moves up and down on the central square of Lille. Around the column of the goddess, a memorial monument reminiscent of the resistance of the city during the siege of the Austrian army in 1792, confetti cannons and smoke machines are set up on a stage. When the DJ sets up a famous song, “Olé!” About the square.

While on the classic French balcony of the Beursgebouw from the Renaissance people watch people with a cocktail in hand, the presenter encourages the crowd again on stage. “Allez Lille!“, She shouts, after which she announces the first team at the team presentation of the Tour de France: Cofidis, a French team with roots in the northern French region.

It may be clear: the Tourstart, by the French to ‘Le Grand Départ‘Baptized, is back in France. For the first time since 2021, when Brest was the place where the riders started their tour. And just like then on Thursday, the French public was pulled out in large numbers for the team presentation; In Brest still with local bagpipe blowers, in Lille with breakdancers.

A French start of the Tour is less and less common. Take the period 2008-2027, with the two Le Grand Départs in the Spanish Barcelona (2026) and Scottish Edinburgh (2027) in prospect; The starting signal will only be given in France in France in twenty years.

A Tour de France that takes place entirely on French territory, as is the case this year, is even rarer. The last time that happened was in 2020, when moving the Tour within the French country borders in the middle of the Coronapandemie was the only controllable option. Before that in this century? 2013, when the Tour left the mainland, but started on the French island of Corsica. The 2003 edition also remained in France, in honor of the centenary anniversary.

In short, the tour is less and less French. Given the large crowds in Copenhagen (2022), Bilbao (2023) and Florence (2024), this development is a great success for the organizers, but not everyone is happy with it in France. Former rider and the current team boss of Groupama-FDJ Marc Madiot told French media earlier this year that he thinks it is too much of a good thing. “I understand that starting abroad is logical abroad, but the event is simply called the Tour de France.”

Madiot is not alone. The League National Cyclism (LNC), the organization that represents the interests of professional cycling in France, is also critical. “It is good that the Tour de France starts abroad to promote the race internationally, but it is important that the rate also starts in France. More than half of Le Grand Départs abroad is too much, will it be a little less?” NRC.

International character

The choice of the location of Le Grand Départ and the drawing of the route falls under the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), the organizer of the Tour. According to Cyrille Tricart, who has been responsible for the coordination of all start and finish places that the Tour has for the ASO for more than twenty years, the competition has always had an international character. “The Tour passed the French country borders for the first time in 1906, then a Metz stage [toen nog onderdeel van Duitsland, red.] crossed. It is part of our history to go abroad. “

The fact that the tour came outside of France in his fourth edition was not surprising if you know what the race is modeled on, says Eric Reed. The American professor of history is the author of the book ‘Selling the Yellow Jersey: The Tour de France in the Global Age. ‘ “The first organizers often quoted the modern Olympic Games of Pierre de Coubertin as an example,” said Reed. “The first decades were also driven with country teams, so that the competition immediately had an international focus.”

Yet it would take until 1954 before the Tour started abroad for the first time. Amsterdam was the first international host of the Tour de France. The choice for the Dutch capital was a tribute to the ASO to Dutch cyclists, who had won the team classification the year before. The first stage, which ended in Brasschaat, Belgium, was also won by a Dutchman – Wout Wagtmans.

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In the meantime the Tour has started 26 times outside of France, the Netherlands is most often done with six editions. The last time was in 2015, when the race started in Utrecht and went through Neeltje Jans in Zeeland to Belgium and France. “That was a huge party,” then mayor Jan van Zanen recalls. “That Utrecht could organize something like that, the city gave a huge boost of self -confidence.”

Largest bicycle shed in the world

Bringing in the Tourstart was “a tombola,” says Van Zanen. “There are so many interests with it, there are so many interested parties that the allocation is really a fight.” Moreover, it is a process of years, he says. “I think the first plans were created in 2004 or 2005. The intention was that it would happen in 2010, but then the Tourstart went to Rotterdam. They were faster, brutaler. And then we had to wait five more years.”

There are more interested people than to grant Le Grand Départ, Tricart acknowledges. “To give you an indication: this year I already spoke with two prime ministers and a Minister of Sport who would like to bring the Tourstart to their country.”

What the interested parties have to prove is that the city has something with cycling. “We are coming abroad to promote France, and the foreign locations have to promote cycling,” says Tricart, who remembers how the construction of the largest bicycle shed in the world in Utrecht was a big plus for the opportunities of the Domstad. “That made it logical to choose Utrecht.”

The great international interest offers the ASO a chance to grow commercially. “Foreign guest cities give us more money than French guest cities,” admits Tricart. The last three foreign hosts in Denmark, Spain and Italy each paid around 6 million euros to the ASO to be able to organize Le Grand Départ, outdated news agency AFP. Brest paid around 3.6 million in 2021, while Lille is transferring around 4.2 million euros this year.

The commercialization of the Tour started with the trading of the first television rights in the late 1960s, says Reed. “From then on, setting up the Tour became important as a ‘business’. After 1968, the country teams were exchanged for trademark teams, for whom tapping new, international markets was interesting.” The Tour television rights nowadays yield ASO an estimated 100 million a year.

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For foreign locations, the attraction of the Tour de France outweighs the costs. “We expect Le Grand Départ to get around six million people in three days. That would be the largest event in the history of the UK in terms of spectators,” says Simon Morton, which is involved in the organization of the Tourstart in 2027 in Edinburgh. He wants to say the costs you incur, are relative. “For us, the value we get back for that money is excellent.”

New markets

In the meantime, the ASO continues to look for new markets. “Three of the twelve foreign locations that we visit between 2008 and 2027 are countries that we have not done before,” says Tricart, referring to Scotland, Denmark, Italy. “That opens a door for other countries that dream of organizing a Le Grand Départ.”

In France, Xavier Jan, who represents the interests of national professional teams and organizers on behalf of the LNC, sees that development with sorrow. “I understand that cycling is an international sport and the Tour is the biggest cycling event, so I have nothing against starting abroad. But not so often. It is an important way for us to promote cycling in France and inspire a new generation.”

Jan is happy that Le Grand Départ will take place in Lille this year. “Many competitions are being organized in this region, such as the GP Denain and the Four Days Marches of Dunkirk. Without such races, riders cannot prepare for the Tour, but that is sometimes forgotten and these races are having a hard time. So it’s great that they now get some extra attention because Le Grand Départ is here.”

But in the end it is the ASO that decides, Jan knows. He doesn’t care much about the criticism. “We know there are French people who don’t want the Tour to go abroad, but we don’t waste time on that,” says Tricart. According to him, the tour has to go with modern times. “The world globalizes, and the Tour has to change.”

Foreign organizers think so too. “The tour is larger than France,” says Van Zanen. “It is the largest event in the world after the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games, it is an export product of France, so it’s good that they bring it abroad.” Morton mentions the fear that the Tour loses its French character unfounded. “The Tour has unmistakably a French heart and a French soul. All the big moments of the competition, the demarrages and the climbs that you remember always take place in France.”

In recent years there have been rumors that the ASO wants to go one step further and the possibility of organizing Le Grand Départ outside of Europe. A visit from a high-ranking ASO employee to Montreal in 2022, which posted photos on X (formerly Twitter) of it, led to speculation. The United States, due to the large potential commercial market, are also often mentioned. In 2009, Qatar made an attempt in vain to get the Tour to the Middle East.

Tricart calls such plans “unrealistic” for the time being because of the long travel time. The rules of the global cycling association UCI prescribe that large rounds (in addition to the Tour also the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta d’Espana) may only have one day of rest. The organizers can also add a third rest day to the route book once every four years.

“We are unable to move a platoon over the Atlantic Ocean in one day,” says Tricart. For the same reason, a Tour start on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, a department of France, was canceled in 2000, even though it was a big wish from then President Jacques Chirac, who even wanted to make Concordes available to fly the peloton overseas.

However, a Le Grand Départ outside of Europe is not impossible in the future, says Tricart. “You know, the Tour de France is made of dreams. Many of the mountain tops that we now climb were also impossible years ago. So never say never.”

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