The environmental concerns of the cycling world? For David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), they are assertive and clear: “As part of our 2030 agenda, our institution is committed to carbon neutrality by this timeframe, with above all a 50% reduction in our emissions. But we would like these objectives to also apply to our stakeholders, therefore to race organizers and professional teams. First, until 2027, we ask them to align with this objective, and in a second phase, things will become mandatory, in particular to obtain the World Tour license that we grant. »
All teams and organizers will therefore have to measure their carbon footprint. In addition, more than 80 partners signed the UCI Charter for Climate Action in the fall of 2022, which includes these commitments. “Today, there is goodwill. Tomorrow won’t be enough, warns David Lappartient. However, the path promises to be as rough as a pass outside the category. Because for the time being, the organizers have mastered one thing above all: the treatment of the waste generated by their races.
In Gabon, 7 stages and 3 air connections
From the big tours to the Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon, all boast their zones for collecting runners’ water bottles. The preservation of biodiversity, efforts on vehicle energy sources (electricity, biofuels) are also increasingly listed. But apart from the Tour de France, whose organizer Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) shows a 40% reduction in its emissions between 2013 and 2021, how many really assess their carbon footprint?
At the end of January, Gabon celebrated the return of its Tropicale after two years of cancellation because of the Covid, with 7 stages but all the same three air connections to complete its 933 km course. On the side of the Middle East, on the Saudi Tour in Saudi Arabia, the Tour of Oman or that of the United Arab Emirates on which operate ASO and RCS Sport, the organizer of the Tour of Italy, the question of the environmental impact got lost in the desert.
It was perhaps ex-rider Stuart O’Grady, one of the organizers of the Australian Tour Down Under which traditionally opens the season in mid-January, who best summed up the general state of mind on the site Cycling news l ‘last summer : “I don’t think the carbon footprint of cycling is huge, and I think it’s much more important to promote a healthy lifestyle through our discipline. »
“Be careful not to go overboard”
The de facto teams also navigate between imperative awareness and moderate activism. “Of course, going to run in Australia is not neutral, but our trips to the other side of the world are still limited, and we most often travel to Europeunderlines Cédric Vasseur, the manager of the Cofidis team. We were one of the first teams to sign the UCI Charter, we are really sensitive to the subject. We ask a lot of the sports world, but be careful not to go overboard. »
In other words, it is Marc Madiot, the manager of Groupama-FDJ who defends a certain realism: “Okay, we can’t sit idly by anymore. But we can’t be so obsessed with our impact that we stay home. And then participating in the development of the bike, it’s not the worst attack on the planet, is it? »
For Martin Bertran, in charge of sports sponsorship at Total in support of TotalEnergies training, “sport is a media object and must therefore set an example. Any incentive to be virtuous is good, but it also takes time to prepare teams to measure their carbon footprint, with feasibility being a consideration for smaller ones. »
And the runners in this case? They are not legion to speak out on these issues. Guillaume Martin, the leader of Cofidis, was one of the few to express himself last November on the Reporterre site, calling “to entertain us in a more reasonable way”without however wanting to play the ambassadors of the cause to avoid ” give lessons “. A moderate breakaway overall.