“Your Highness, you can shoot!” And his Highness fired. Prince Albert of Monaco came to play pétanque on the Tour de France cyclist this Saturday noon in Nice. Fortunately, the VIP village of the event, set up each day at the start for the enjoyment of partners, elected officials, organizers and journalists – everyone except spectators and runners – has a mini-boules pitch this year. The projectiles are plastic rather than chrome, an accident being so quickly happened, and you must not point too far, otherwise you will bombard the coffee fountains. Albert II disinfected his hands with gel then he fired. Once. Twice. He looked happy and it was happy to see, the start of this Tour is so long and sad.
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His Serene Highness also climbed on the rooftop terrace devoted to very high personalities and he tore off his mask, which is however compulsory in all the streets of the city between 8 a.m. and midnight – the municipal police force themselves to distribute a hundred of fines per day. Albert looked happier and happier. To his right, the mayor Christian Estrosi had decided to take off his mask too, the operative blue textile hanging from his ear. Alongside them, other VIPs unmasked, the respective wives and the champion of mixed martial arts, the Irishman Conor McGregor, who is more relaxed on the Côte d’Azur than in his country, since the justice is investigating two cases of sexual assault on him.
The people and the gladiators
The Areopagus stood on the balcony and greeted the crowd like a Roman Emperor. Finally, the crowd … Dozens, barely hundreds of people, still pushed back behind opaque barriers two meters high, which we learn have a technical name, “blackout panels”. Ridiculous decibel applause accompanied the procession of runners. When the announcer called out the names of Thibaut Pinot or Julian Alaphilippe, the clusters of women and men who had managed to cluster together hardly answered. Only the Prince of Monaco exploded when Peter Sagan was announced. V-shaped arms to cheer on the Slovak runner who lives on the Rock.
Thus started the Tour de France 2020 which for the moment is running empty. As with the presentation of the teams on Thursday evening, the people kept at bay. Albert II and Christian Iis people in gowns on the platform. The two watched the procession of gladiators pass at their feet. Two low-angle photographers heated the lens. The two masters of the Riviera savored it. They were trying to create an image. But which ? The people below saw something else. Between oneself. No mask. Far from all. Away from it all.
Pierre Carrey sent to Nice
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