And so our July rendezvous draws near and with it the need for information about its first phase, so festive and so exciting for anyone participating in the Tour de France: the gathering together of the “Grand Départ” and the call of adventure, as it is an adventure. Just imagine: four thousand of us – four thousand lucky ones! – will set off in the wake of the champions, for a full three weeks, encountering millions of enthusiastic spectators on the routes of France and Germany (a little).
This first Lettre du Tour has as its duty to acquaint you with what lies ahead, first of all in Vendée: in Challans and the competition HQ, then in Noirmoutier for this remarkable first stage. In short, the chronological course of events for this Grand Départ as recently finalised in conjunction with our hosts of the Vendée region, whose acquaintance with us goes as far as our appreciation of them as this will be the 3rd Grand Départ that we will have organised together in fifteen years!
And in fifteen years, the Tour has greatly evolved. Modern communication methods today permit live broadcasting of the race in Australia and details of the stage available on Internet and, as if to counterbalance this internationalisation, our own, and just as essential, French mobilization, via the contest for the decoration of our towns and our villages.
To be continued, of course, in the very next edition of the « Lettre du Tour », which will appear shortly as, like every year, there is much to say…
|
The Big Start for the Tour de France is back in Vendée. After 1993 and 1999 launched from the Puy-du-Fou, the department will once again have place of honour next July. The first three stages of this year’s edition will be crossing a department with a strong link to cycling whose emblematic figure is that of Jean-René Bernaudeau.
Bernaudeau, a symbol
Everyone remembers Bernaudeau’s exploits as a rider in the Stelvio, during a legendary stage of the 1980 Giro, during which he accompanied his leader Bernard Hinault, in one of the finest victories of his career. Over and beyond this mythical stage, four successes in the Grand Prix du Midi-Libre and a style combining generosity in the heat of exertion and good humour leave the memory of an exemplary sportsman with all cycling enthusiasts. When his career came to an end, in 1991, Bernaudeau, native of Saint-Maurice le Girard, with the help of Philippe Rimbaud and manager of the U firm, Jean-Claude Jaunay, created Vendée U, a Club dedicated to training.
Vendée U, the nursery
Tasked with training a generation of riders, to begin with Vendée U recruited local youngsters, as well as those from abroad, in a department which today boasts good training clubs. At the time, the aim was to form a mixed group swelled by the new blood of young riders, inspiring them with the values that Bernaudeau had made his own throughout his career: honesty, respect, work, know-how. Winning only has a meaning when it is moved by certain principles. The training of youngsters was in fact a superb springboard for the creation in 2000 of the professional team Bonjour, which, in 2003, was to become Brioches la Boulangère and today sports the name of Bouygues Telecom. The road was a long and sometimes winding one for all the young riders who have emerged from Vendée U, from whose ranks over the past 15 years many have joined the professional team and earned their place alongside the elite. Thus, from Sylvain Chavanel to Thomas Voeckler, without forgetting Jérôme Pineau or Maryan Hary in particular, the Vendée group has brought about a good many successes, particularly during the French championships which have twice consecrated Didier Rous and, more recently, Thomas Voeckler.
All of which means that, when the start is given from Fromentine on the 2nd July, Vendeans can be proud of their cycling and their attachment to a Tour de France for which, once more, they are worthy hosts.
|
