Axel May 12:01 p.m., July 07, 2022
The day after the cobblestone stage in the North, the Tour de France will return to Longwy, on the occasion of a sixth stage which will start from Binche, in Belgium.
The latter is the longest of the Grande Boucle of the 2022 edition with 219.9 kilometers to be covered for the runners.
After Denmark, the Tour de France stops Thursday morning in Belgium for the longest stage of the Tour: 219.9 km to be exact, starting from Binche.
A choice that is not entirely due to chance.
Indeed, best known for its carnival since the 14th century, it has managed to make a name for itself on the cycling map.
Three years ago, the city very close to the French border had already hosted a stage of the Grande Boucle.
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Jean-Francois Bourlard leads one of the four Belgian teams involved in the Tour, the Intermarché Wanty-Gobert formation, whose head office is located in Binche.
"The city had still done well with its first participation in the Tour. We had seen almost 100,000 people at the start of a third or fourth stage and I think that caught the eye of the organizers", he says. .
"They are happy to come back this year."
"A race as followed abroad as in France"
After a great departure from Denmark, the Tour is therefore making a new stopover outside France.
The peloton will cover 70 kilometers in Wallonia before crossing the border.
And it's not to displease the Jurassic Alexis Vuillermoz.
"There is almost more fervor in the border countries because they are really waiting for the Tour de France. And I find it rather pleasant that this race is followed as much abroad as in France", he rejoices at the microphone from Europe 1.
The Tour, decidedly very international this year, will arrive in Lausanne on Saturday and will leave Aigle, another Swiss city, on Sunday.