Tour de France: an edition in unknown territory

The Tour de France starts this Saturday in Nice. An offbeat and necessarily special race with the health crisis. For Virginie Phulpin, this 2020 Tour is a kind of meeting place in unknown territory. It won't be the same party as the other years, but it's still good for morale.  

Already, a Tour de France at the start of the school year, when we have the sweet habit of the wheel turns that punctuate our summer schedules, it's a little disturbing. Metro, work, bike, you will have to get used to this triptych for three weeks.

Well, we say three weeks, but we really don't know. Who can say today that we are sure that the Tour de France will come to an end? No one ! As much as we love about sport, it is the glorious uncertainty of the results, there it is a much less attractive uncertainty that awaits us.

If ever two riders from the same team test positive for Covid, the entire team will have to withdraw. Finally, even this rule is likely to change. Suffice to say that we do not know much. So it makes sense during this health crisis, ASO, the organizer, applies the precautionary principle.

There is therefore the risk of seeing the peloton lose weight as the days go by. Good luck if you want to risk the game of predictions to guess who will be in yellow on September 20 on the Champs-Elysées, if the Tour goes that far.

It's still annoying because given the very steep course this year, we thought it was a route made for Thibaut Pinot. We have been feverishly awaiting a French successor to Bernard Hinault for 35 years and there, even before the big start, we can just touch wood so that the race will come to an end.  

For the public, it won't really be a Tour de France.

Nothing will be "normal" in fact in this Tour 2020. Look at last night there was the official presentation of the teams in Nice. Normally it attracts crowds. And there, only 1,000 people were able to attend. Everything was barricaded. With the unpleasant feeling of being turned away from a VIP party.

Part of the fun of the Tour de France, usually, is accessibility. A large free sporting event is rare. But this year the enthusiasts are deprived of the simple pleasure of being able to approach the runners. The presence of the public will be limited at the start and finish of the stages. And in the passes, it is forbidden to approach cyclists within two meters, and even that will not be possible everywhere. A kind of Tour behind closed doors, there is a part of the spirit of the race that escapes us. Once again, we will not blame the organizers for taking all the necessary precautions.

Of course, this Tour loses a little of its flavor. But already, it takes place. Which was far from being won at the start. And just the fact that the runners set off on Saturday to storm the roads of France, we almost believe we are resuming the normal course of our lives. It's a start, is not it ?

In addition, we have a bit of the impression of being in July. Come on, see you at the start of the school year!