2023-07-29 14:11:28
Before each start, they stand on the podium and are applauded like the “pros”. At each finish, after having competed in the sprint in the home stretch, they are congratulated by hundreds of spectators. In their purple outfits, the girls from the “They are coming” operation have become essentials of the Tour de France Women 2023 edition caravan. Every day, they cover a few tens of kilometers on the stage route before the pros and dream of one day imitating them.
“It’s incredible, it’s not given to everyone to be able to ride on the roads of a Grand Tour”, exults Lou-Anne, from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. After seven years of mountain biking, this year she chose the road and the track and, alerted by her club, did not miss the opportunity to take advantage of this new operation.
On this Tour de France Women, the system brings together 48 athletes aged 13 to 18, divided into two groups. In addition to being able to rub shoulders with the stars of the women’s peloton, they take advantage of the infrastructure and especially of the people gathered along the roads. “Seeing that there are plenty of people for this Tour de France Women is even more motivating, continues Enora, 18 and from Finistère. If it can make even more little girls want to get on their bikes, that’s great”.
On this Tour, their idols and models are French. “Evita Muzic and Juliette Labous”, for Lou-Anne. “They come from the same club as me,” she smiles. For Enora, it’s Cédrine Kerbaol. “She is from near my home in Brittany, and I would obviously like to have the same career as her. To be like her one day is a dream”. Here, they touch it with their fingers and become aware of what separates them from their elders.
“Memories engraved for a long time”
“They are still young, there is still a long way to go before reaching the Tour de France Women, says their manager Mathilde Dupré, national technical adviser within the federation in charge of the feminization of sport. But that’s also why we didn’t want to establish level criteria that were too selective. There are girls of a very good national level, but others are more used to regional competitions. We really wanted to give access to all these young girls so that they could experience an internship of this magnitude and enjoy these moments”.
“These are memories that will remain engraved for a long time for them,” she adds. The Tour de France remains a globally recognized event. Crossing a finish line with so much public and so much fervor, they never experience it”.
During these few days, they evolve at the same pace as the professionals. Transfer by bus before the stages, presentations on the podium before the start of the race, return to the hotel… “But there is no pressure, insists Mathilde Dupré. On the Tourmalet, for example, everyone will climb to their own level, and the challenge I gave them is to get to the top together”.
The opportunity to test yourself and gain experience a few days before another meeting. Several of them will head next week to the French Championships of the Future, organized in Plédran in Brittany. Lou-Anne, among the cadets, and Enora, among the juniors, dream of a top 10 despite “big competition”. Before them, their idols Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) in 2017, Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) in 2019 or Juliette Labous (Team DSM) in 2016 had imposed themselves there.
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