Tour de France, congress of mayors, snow between Orly and Marcoussis… The indiscretions of the week of November 24 in Tarn-et-Garonne

Like every Sunday, La Dépêche du Midi de Tarn-et-Garonne offers its political and unusual indiscretions of the week in Tarn-et-Garonne. Cycling, rugby and even political prizes are on the menu for this Sunday, November 24, 2024.

The mayor of Montauban returns from the congress of mayors in Paris with a trophy and a label

This week, Marie-Claude Berly experienced her first Mayors' Fair and AMF (association of French mayors and presidents of intermunicipalities) conferences in Paris as councilor of the city of Ingres. Porte de Versailles, the mayor of Montauban was awarded several awards.

First of all, the “age-friendly city” label, silver level. “For 15 years, Montauban has been a child-friendly city and today it is a way of closing the loop by obtaining this prestigious label,” reacted the former first assistant, congratulating the Senior Center and Sabine Si Belkacem Condamines, deputy in charge of senior policy. “This label rewards their hard work throughout the year to improve the lives of our seniors.”

A loan signed with the Banque des Territoires

The mayor also returned to Montauban with a trophy in her suitcases: the public procurement award in the “Exemplary Purchase” category awarded to Grand Montauban for the performance contract concluded with Suez relating to waste collection and management of recycling centers / recycling.

Finally, she took advantage of the Mayors' Fair to sign the loan taken out for the Ramiérou Center of Sports Excellence with the Banque des Territoires. This is called making a trip profitable.

The Greater Montauban urban council deprived of its leaders

Organized exceptionally on a Friday evening, precisely because of the congress of mayors in Paris, the community council of Grand Montauban did not give rise to any great outbursts, Friday November 22, 2024. It must be said that Brigitte Barèges was missing, suffering, and Rodolphe Portolès.

The elected communist, a big football fan, had extended his stay in the capital to attend the PSG-TFC match at the Parc des Princes. The result was not what this Stadium faithful hoped for (0-3).

The deputy general secretary of the FFR shipwrecked by the storm Caetano

Virginie Deprince-Delahaye will long remember her trip to Paris, Thursday November 21, 2024. La Beaumontoise, reappointed to her position as deputy secretary general of the FFR following the victory of Florian Grill, had booked a plane on Thursday to join the National Center rugby (CNR) in Marcoussis.

First setback in Toulouse: two hours late for his flight and a hussar boarding, in just 20 minutes, to take the right slot. It must be said that the Caetano storm and the snow forecast for the Paris region were beginning to seriously disrupt air traffic at Orly and Roissy, the Ile-de-France airports.

The last kilometer… on foot

It was in Orly (closer to the CNR of Marcoussis) that the plane of the director of Stade Beaumontois landed. “Experiencing the turbulence and landing on the snow, I will remember that.” Virginie will also remember what happened next: the “crazy” parking lot at Orly, a heavy goods vehicle which spun in front of her on the motorway, a 2.5 hour “stop” on the motorway, the only exit from emergency consisting of turning around and taking a ramp in the wrong direction to get onto another highway, driving towards Marcoussis on snow-covered roads…

And, a kilometer from the CNR, when she finally thinks she's getting there, she finds herself stuck by a Tesla empty of its passengers in a one-way street. At 3 a.m., Virginie Deprince-Delahaye decided to walk the last kilometer… avoiding a fall. Result: 8 hours of travel. “By car, I might have gone faster,” the Beaumontoise prefers to say ironically.

A finish of the Tour de France 2026 in Castelsarrasin?

While the route for the major Petite Reine competition has just been revealed for 2025 (with a few stages in our neighbors in Toulouse and Auscita), some cycling enthusiasts are already having fun imagining the route in 2026.

This is the case of an Internet user, named “2Singh”, who got caught up in the game of speculation on a forum called “Le Grupetto”. Map in hand, he reveals the supposed route of the seventh stage between Pau and… Castelsarrasin, a certain Friday July 10, 2025. With passages planned in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, Montech and Saint-Porquier before arriving in the city under -prefecture.

Last arrival in 2007

To see the city of Castelsarrasinois, a stage city of the Tour de France, you have to go back to the year 2007. It was precisely from Pau that the peloton set off towards Tarn-et-Garonne. In front of the Alary stadium, the Italian Daniele Bennati raised his arms at the end of this 17th stage, after a breakaway.

“From dream to reality, there is only one step…”, said the other. But at the time, the mayor Bernard Dagen (who had obtained two stage starts in 2001 and 2004) had his membership in the Amaury sport organization (ASO), which governs the event… Which is not necessarily the case of Jean-Philippe Bésiers, his successor.