Tour de France 2024: “This is our reward”, schoolchildren from Villeneuve-sur-Lot will cycle more than 200 km

For 30 years, every year, students from the department’s primary schools have participated in the USEP Cycle Tourist Round. An event organized by the USEP Departmental Committee of Lot-et-Garonne (Sports Union for First Degree Education) and supported by the Directorate of Departmental Services of National Education.

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This year, for 6 days, and until Saturday June 22, 59 cycle 3 students and around fifty accompanying adults, licensed in 3 USEP associations, discovered the department by bike, and came together around the principles of meeting, sharing and living together supported by the USEP. Also this year, so-called “nomadic” classes are joining the peloton for a day, thus increasing it from 30 to 100 participants. In the end, 247 students tasted the spirit of this sporting and civic event. This class and association project finalizes work carried out throughout the school year, and validates the skills of “Knowing How to Ride a Bike”. In addition, the platoon is accompanied by 3 bikers from the National Gendarmerie, and vehicles providing logistics, infirmary and stewardship. On Saturday, upon their arrival in Agen, the Rondists will have covered a total of 215 km in 6 stages, from Virazeil, on Monday June 17, 2024, to Marmande, Grézet-Cavagnan, Laparade, Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot, Villeneuve-sur- Lot, Pujols, La Croix Blanche and Foulayronnes.

“We’ve been training since February”

For the city of Villeneuve, it is the Paul-Bert school, under the responsibility of its director Patricia De Sotomayor, which is participating in this round. “This is the 4th round in which I have participated with CM1 students. And I know now that this cannot be improvised.”

And if there is one thing that cyclists and cycle tourists know well, it is that without training, covering more than 200 km by bike is not an easy thing, especially if you get back in the saddle every day. “Since February, we have been training regularly. It is essential for these young people, some of whom knew very little, or even not at all, about cycling before starting training. And before the start of the round, we had traveled more than 300 km. I know they are all ready to participate, to give their all and to play the game well.”

There are 13 students from the class participating in the round. “For some, these training sessions, the discovery of a sport that they did not necessarily know, is revealing. I have been participating in it for 4 years, and I have been able to see all the advantages that it has had on them. They discover a new activity, but they also discover a lot about themselves. It must be said that this school is integrated into the priority education network (REP). “This integration into this network, which aims to correct the impact of social and economic inequalities on academic success by strengthening pedagogical and educational action in schools and establishments in territories which encounter the greatest difficulties, we allows us to better take into account the difficulties of some of our audiences, who have social or academic difficulties”.

And For Patricia De Sotomayor, the result is obvious. “They realize, through this sporting practice and in a group, that their efforts are rewarded. This is an observation that I make during each new participation in this round. They manage to reproduce these efforts afterwards, back in class, in terms of learning but also in their daily lives They gain self-confidence, become aware of their ability to learn, to concentrate, of the solidarity that can exist between them… Of everything that makes sense in society. done; it allows them to grow and that is our greatest reward.”

The round has already completed more than half the route, and Patricia is convinced of one thing. “When we arrive on Saturday, despite the fatigue, many will say: it’s already over.”