Unlike a soccer match, which begins when the referee signals kick-off with his whistle, a Tour de France stage begins with two separate acts. Each day of racing begins with a start that is qualified as “artistic”, in the city where the Grande Boucle is hosted. The peloton stays together and drives at a moderate pace in the host municipality, a few minutes, the time to exit the built-up area. “This is essential because without this imaginary departure we could not safely leave the city center without taking risks.– trusts the technical director of the Tour de France, Thierry Gouvenu, who sees the second interest in it. “It also allows all the cars behind to fit in the right spot as everyone pulls out of the parking space and it needs to be put in place. Not everything can be done at the click of a finger“, – explains the former runner, Greg Lemond’s teammate in the 90s.
The fictional launch also allows the city, which paid €80,000 tax-free to host the event, to organize certain festivities that bring a large audience to the city center and thus make businesses work. It even happens that the peloton stops for a moment to welcome the presence of an important person on the course or to mark a short ceremony.
During this parade, which never exceeds 10 kilometers (later, a special dispensation must be requested, which occurs only when leaving large cities), the runners obviously have no right to attack, the race director’s car c. either event precedes the peloton, which must cross the actual start line without stragglers, symbolizing the zero kilometer of the stage.
All runners must be there at the actual start, otherwise it will be delayed
The presence of all runners is also an obligation to start combat operations. If ever one of them gets a flat tire, the actual start will wait a bit and only be cut from one or even two kilometers when he returns to the team line-up. This situation also occurred in Denmark when two riders fell victim to mechanical failure at the start of the second stage, suddenly delaying the big cats’ release on the track.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.