Chalon-sur-Saone (AFP)
Back of steep donkeys, dangerous turns, slippery or stony roads ... The 3480 kilometers of roads of the Tour de France, put to a severe test for three weeks, are the subject of a meticulous attention just before the peloton limit the risk of falling.
The day is not up yet Friday at the exit of Belfort. But at the height of the famous "kilometer zero", that of the actual start of the stage of the day that will be given five and a half hours later, three neon yellow cars have just rushed on the course. It is 6:15.
"We'll start with a + TPC +," says Samuel Tavernier in his walkie-talkie, before jumping out of his vehicle to tape a large yellow plastic sign on the edge of the road.
The "TPC" is the central reservation. There are 599 on the Grande Boucle road this year, and almost all of them must be "marked out" - announced to the riders by a suitable sign installed upstream.
"Franche-Comté is the region of the donkeys", amuses Samuel, who travels for the 6th year all the departments crossed by the Tour. On the morning of each leg, his team of five to six officers tagged the 50 to 180 "hard points" referenced on the course: roundabouts, speed bumps, narrowing, medians and other crossings ... or until 400 panels per day.
Signage, the laying of protective hay bales in front of the obstacles and the installation of barriers are local, "but sometimes we find ourselves in front of a huge roundabout without barriers or markings, and we do not make the proud," says Samuel.
- Mythical sweeper -
A few hours later, the traditional advertising caravan and its tanks, which precede the pack for several kilometers, spread on its way dust, gravel, gifts and garbage. This heavy parade has also left some paved areas in a state of partial fusion: it is the "bleeding", a major risk to bike especially in hot weather.
This is where comes a second technical patrol, that of the sweeper of the Tour, that the followers have quickly baptized "Gros Léon" since its commissioning ten years ago. A machine to 280,000 euros - "not counting the broom!" - one of a kind on a cycling race.
At the wheel of the racing car, before the peloton passes, the Vosgien Grégory Villaumé sweeps the descent of a small pass. "We must be wary in downhill," says the one who drives his gear year round in his department. A little later, he will use part of his two tons of water to cool a bleeding area.
A few meters behind, Fred and Mikael polish the course. A touch of pink fluorescent paint in front of an obstacle here, a bunch of straw there. Near Marnoz (Jura), about twenty road separators are positioned in the middle of the road. "It's a big mistake," said Fred. "If a rider hits one, it is the + strike +! Thinking well, the locals have created a danger," says Mikael.
- "Overbidding" -
"Between chicanes, + steeds +, quirky directional islands, there is clearly an outbidding in urban development, which leads to a higher bid in the protections to place", says André Bancalà, who coordinates the securing of the Tour for the Assembly of Departments of France (ADF).
Between 1996 and 2018, the number of roundabouts on the course of the Tour has tripled. Since 2014, the number of donkeys has doubled.
"At the same time, there is a desire on the part of the organizers to overprotect this race, with an objective of excellence", which multiplies the signaling tools ... "Light bollards, paint bombs, picketing and rope ... We invent some every year ", he describes, without being alarmed.
At the end of the day in Chalon-sur-Saône, all the agents watched the finish of the stage. No major falls, except that of the American Tejay Van Garderen fell early in the course of a "TPC" particularly unfavorable to the practice of cycling. But Fred philosopher: "Sometimes, facing the road, we are powerless, we can not do anything about it".
© 2019 AFP