Fans of the Grande Boucle will have to wait another year. A few weeks after the unveiling of the Tour de France route for 2025, Loire and Alti-Loire followers were able to see that the 112th edition will pass neither through the Loire nor through the Haute-Loire. For the second year in a row.
Indeed, we have to (already) go back to July 13, 2023 to see a stage pass through the Loire (Roanne, at the time). And on July 16, 2022 for Haute-Loire, during a stage linking Saint-Etienne to Mende.
300 candidate cities each year
How is it that a city like Saint-Etienne, scene of 49 departures and arrivals since 1903 – more than a city like Lyon (35) – has no longer been present on the Tour routes for three years now? “We have 300 candidate cities each year. We like to go to all regions. It happens that, sometimes, we don't go somewhere for twenty years, explains Pierre-Yves Thouault, deputy director at Amaury Sport Organization (ASO). We have criteria to respect: the Tour must cover 3,500 km, with two days of rest, the departure city must be a friendly space with a fairly large surface area, the arrival city must be, a sports space, in the center of the city to bring the public to life… This is not always easy. »
The Saint-Etienne Metropolis still needs to volunteer. According to our information, the latter ensures that it has not declared itself a candidate to host a stage of the Grande Boucle next summer. Enough to quickly end any discussion.
To host a stage start, the City must pay €100,000 to the Amaury Sport Organization group. For an arrival? €140,000.
If Gaël Perdriau dreamed of making Saint-Etienne a big start for the Tour de France, ideally for 2025 with the absence of a sporting event in the city, his recent withdrawal no longer allows him to apply for the Metropolis. “I am very good friends with Christian Prud'homme. This is perhaps why there have never been so many stages of the Tour de France since I became president of the Metropolis, confided the Saint-Etienne mayor during a municipal council meeting at the end of November. . You're not supposed to know that a number of people wanted me to step aside. So you'll have to ask someone other than me. »
We will therefore have to wait a little longer to see Saint-Etienne open the ball in a Tour de France.
“Promote the Tour beyond borders”
If it dreamed of a big departure, the Saint-Etienne metropolis must also confront European competition. “There are also neighboring countries to take into account. Italy (starting country of the Tour in 2024) is a land of Cycling. In Copenhagen (departure of the Tour in 2022), there are more bicycles than inhabitants. This also makes it possible to promote the Tour beyond borders,” adds the deputy director of Amaury Sport Organization, who does not deny favoring regions where cycling is really appreciated “like Normandy or the North. »
Defined a year before the start – although the organization began three years earlier – the Tour route has continued to disappoint. Or happy ones, depending on the region in which you are located.
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