Cycling: why the Tour de France is maintained despite the cancellation of “large-scale events”

2023-07-01 02:55:38

“Cancellation of large-scale events mobilizing staff and which may present risks to public order depending on local situations. This little sentence in the Matignon circular released this Friday afternoon could have given Tour de France fans a cold sweat. Because in terms of events “mobilizing workforce”, the Grande Boucle is perhaps the most advanced. According to official figures released before the start of the 110th edition of the Grande Boucle, 300 mobile gendarmes, Republican guards, police and CRS are permanently mobilized to ensure the security of the race from July 1 to 23.

But, above all, the biggest cycling race in the world also concerns… 28,000 gendarmes, police officers and firefighters throughout the event. All this staff is obviously only concerned for one stage each, when the Tour de France passes through their region. The police and gendarmes are notably mobilized for a few hours each to secure the thousands of road accesses to the route.

It therefore seems easy, in order not to mobilize the police forces currently overwhelmed by social tensions, to stop the Tour. Except that precisely, the Tour de France is anything but a “large-scale event” like the others. At the highest peak in the state, he is seen as a symbol of France. Its cancellation would have complicated political repercussions. The organizers of the Tour had the opportunity to find out during the health crisis.

At the height of the Covid, President Macron had informed ASO, the organizer, that the Tour would be the last sporting event to have to be canceled. “The Tour is like the Eiffel Tower, had slipped an adviser from the Élysée to reassure the organizers. The French did not have their Tour de France only because of the two world wars. It must continue. Moreover, in 2020, the race had not been canceled but only postponed to September.

For the time being, even if the organizers admit to being in “permanent discussions with the Ministry of the Interior”, the Tour de France is not threatened.