Cycling: the mayor of Lyon judges the Tour de France "macho and polluting"

The mayor EELV of Lyon Grégory Doucet judged Wednesday the Tour de France, whose 14th stage arrives on Saturday in Lyon, "macho and polluting" wondering about a possible future candidacy to host the Grande Boucle if it does not evolve in the plan ecological.

"Several points bother me. First, the Tour de France continues to convey a macho image of sport," said the city councilor in an interview with the daily Le Progrès, accessible on its website.

"When we defend the values ​​of sport, we defend gender equality. There should be a women's Tour de France for a long time. It's the last major event not to have taken the plunge," a- he added, also wondering about "the ecological footprint of the Tour" ensuring that the event "was not eco-responsible".

"The goodies that are thrown away by the trailer now need to be redesigned to be sustainable."

 "How many vehicles with thermal engines circulate to make these runners run by bicycle? How much waste generated?", He asked, judging that "it was no longer acceptable to have major sporting events, including the first priority is not to ask the question of their imprint ".

"All the small items, the goodies, the stuff that is thrown by the trailer must now be redesigned to be durable or not to be thrown at all," said Doucet.

"The Tour costs the City a little more than 600,000 euros. The slate is not trivial. The City can again be a candidate to host the Great Loop when it has demonstrated that it can evolve," warned the mayor .

"I want guarantees that the events that we host in our city will be responsible for the planet. As long as we have not delved into this subject, the issue will not come back to my table, "he said.

"It's a funny vision of society"

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Invited Thursday morning from Europe 1, Stanislas Guerini, general delegate of La République en Marche, replied to the environmentalist mayor of Lyon: "It's a funny vision of society. I'm a little afraid of the visions of the society who find that nothing is ever pure enough, who want to come back to everything ", tackled the general delegate of LREM.

The leader of the majority party therefore took the opportunity to broaden his criticism, in a political context where LREM no longer holds back its blows against Europe Ecology-The Greens.

"It's a vision that is too ideologized. It worries me a little, because we don't do anything in any area, if we start having this type of reasoning."