Paris Olympics: the arrival of the Tour de France "rather in Nice" in 2024, according to the Minister of Sports

Europe 1 with AFP 4:45 p.m., July 26, 2022

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra spoke on Tuesday of a possible arrival of the Tour de France cyclist in the summer of 2024 "rather in Nice", at a time when the Olympic Games will take place in Paris, a "working hypothesis among others", assured a source close to the executive.

The Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11), to which an Olympic and Paralympic Council was devoted with a dozen ministers at the Elysee Palace on Monday, supervised by President Emmanuel Macron, risk upsetting the summer sports program somewhat in 2024 .

Since 1905, the Tour always arrives in Paris 

To avoid "the dispersal of the security forces" during this period, "the arrival of the Tour de France will be a little early and will probably not take place in Paris, but rather in Nice", declared Amélie Oudéa-Castéra at the microphone of France Info radio.

“We will probably rearrange the elements of the calendar that can be,” she added.

This year, the Tour de France arrived on July 21 in Paris, five days before the Olympics opening ceremony in two years.

Not since 1905 has this mythical cycling event arrived outside the capital.

“It is a working hypothesis among others”, however nuanced a source close to the executive.

The city of Nice says it is ready

The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi told AFP "that for several weeks his teams have been working alongside those of Amaury Sport Organization (ASO)", which manages the Tour, "in order to study the conditions of the arrival of the 2024 edition of the Tour de France in Nice".

The city of Nice "is used to working with the ASO teams, in particular with the arrival each year of Paris-Nice, the organization in 2013 of the team time trial, and recently with the organization of the big start of the Tour de France 2020", he added, adding that details would be provided "during the month of September".

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"We have excellent relations with the city of Nice, which proved to be very solid in 2020 (when the Tour was postponed to September due to the pandemic)", for his part explained to AFP the director of the Tour. Christian Prudhomme.

"We are discussing a number of things with the town hall of Nice," he added without further details.

"Either before or after"

In an interview with the French sports daily

, President Emmanuel Macron assured that the State would ensure that "all the cultural or sporting events that take place during this period, such as the Tour de France for example, take place either before or after, so as not to mobilize the police".

The question of the mobilization of the internal security forces is a major challenge for these Olympics which will be held in two years.

There are also risks of a possible lack of private security guards at this time.

The Ministry of the Interior will create eleven new mobile units for the Olympics, the Elysée had indicated on Monday following the Olympic Council.

"We will be able to cope," assured Emmanuel Macron to

.