Privas (AFP)

Even reduced, even less expected at the roadside than in July, the Tour de France caravan survived the Covid-19 and with it the gendarmes who dispense the safety instructions.

On the colorful SUVs which are clearly marked "gendarmerie", electronic panels remind us of "wearing a compulsory mask" and "respect the barrier gestures".

And Maxime, animator of car 2 of the gendarme caravan, repeats it: "In the current health context, wearing a mask is compulsory on this stage as on the 21 of the Tour".

New instructions, Covid-19 obliges, which alternate with the more or less traditional "stay by the side of the road" and "do not cross under any circumstances" or the slogan invented by Maxime, "do not fall for a door -keys ".

"It is important, some would be ready to throw themselves under a vehicle to recover something", observes the soldier.

Because neither the start of September, nor the pandemic have showered the perennial flame for samples and 'goodies' on the roads, furnished Wednesday in Montélimar with a rather masked public.

Very comfortable at the microphone, this gendarme, seconded for three weeks on the Tour, usually works at the PSIG in Dijon where he mainly works on flagrant offenses, far from the animation against the background of Magic Systems, + Magic in the Air +, like Wednesday between Gap and Privas.

- "Another relationship with the public" -

“Being in immersion for three weeks is an extraordinary human experience and allows you to have another relationship with the public, he appreciates. It is a mission of prevention, communication”.

Same feeling for Isabelle, the rest of the time a motorcyclist in a brigade in Hérault, which distributes key rings on Wednesday: "My job is usually repression, it feels good to find happy people".

Like Maxime, she responded to an internal call for applications, passed a preselection and an interview to integrate one of the three vehicles of the gendarmerie among the only 100 of the advertising caravan to parade before the peloton this year.

Faced with the health crisis, ASO has reduced the wing by nearly 40% - there were 160 last year.

Several positions behind the gendarmes in the procession, the company E.Leclerc, against the tide, has this year beefed up its system, from 9 to 11 vehicles: more than 10% of the total of the caravan.

"We took out a contract of at least five years, it's not to cough at the first alert", launches to AFP Michel-Edouard Leclerc visiting the Tour in Nice this weekend which sees this unprecedented context as a way to stand out.

"It is often at times of difficulty that brands can show their investment, commitment", believes + MEL + which intends to "demonstrate Leclerc's ability to not only be advertising".

Even in the midst of a health crisis, the caravan and the Tour remain a good means of communication.

Including for the gendarmes, in their dedicated outfit - a turquoise polo shirt - aboard their attractive SUV.

"Everything is done to meet the public", recognizes Maxime.

© 2020 AFP