The leader of the opposition group Carole Gandon (LREM) and city councilor Olivier Dulucq criticize the refusal to host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2021. - C. Allain / 20 Minutes

The summer soap opera is not over. No, Rennes will not host the big start of the Tour de France in 2021. Mayor Nathalie Appéré and his left-wing majority preferred to decline the proposal of the organizer ASO, who was looking for a fallback spot after the defection of Copenhagen. On June 26, the Grande Boucle will finally leave Brest before surveying the Breton roads for four stages. Will Rennes host one? We can doubt it. While waiting for October 26 and the unveiling of the complete route, the opposition continues to criticize the decision of the Rennes majority.

This Monday, it was Carole Gandon, LREM candidate for the last municipal elections, who was responsible for putting a piece back in the jukebox. “This refusal to host the Tour is as incomprehensible as it is unfair. It is a huge waste for everyone who works and lives in Rennes. I think of the shops and the joyful dimension that the event would have brought. Rennes turns its back on Brittany and Rennes makes a fool of itself, ”tackles the young municipal councilor.

The Tour de France deserves that we take a critical look at it. The insults and insults against elected ecologists are unworthy of a political debate, we have the right to take another look at the world after. https://t.co/uABhNWmXsL

- EELV Rennes (@Eelv_Rennes) August 13, 2020

For his right-hand man Olivier Dulucq, the municipal majority elected in June “did not understand to what extent cycling and cycling are part of Brittany”. On Sunday, he watched the stage disputed around Nice and saw several Breton flags on the side of the roads which saw the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe triumph.

"The arguments put forward are ridiculous"

Very upset against the mayor, the elected representatives of the Révéler Rennes group are even more acidic on the environmental allies of Nathalie Appéré, who were the first to communicate on this refusal to host the Grand Départ. “The arguments put forward are ridiculous. We were first told about ecology, then sexism, cost and finally a timing problem, ”criticizes Carole Gandon.

"It's my decision," Nathalie Appéré had defended to Ouest-France , evoking scheduling problems next June. “A real organizational difficulty” because of the delivery of the second metro line and the holding of exams and a “budget constraint” linked to the entry ticket set at 700,000 euros by the organizer Amaury Sport Organization. The mayor even mentioned an overall investment amount of “three million euros”.

"So yes, you can like the Tour, want it to pass in your city, without considering that its high cost is a priority of the moment", had defended the elected environmentalists. "This decision will permanently and sadly mark the mandate which begins", had meanwhile criticized the leader of the right and the center Charles Compagnon.

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