The city of Barcelona will host a Tour departure, a ‘Grand Depart’ as they say in cycling language; that is, the arrival of the entire entourage of the French round, riders, organization, journalists, advertising brands, etc., etc., the presentation of teams and at least two stages. “I want to surprise you,” is the phrase pronounced by David Escudésports councilor of the Barcelona city council, who was following the stage of the Vuelta on Friday that ended in the Tourmaletwhere, coincidences of life, he also went Christian Prudhommedirector del Tour.
At the end of the stage there was a work session, which is not the same as an informal meeting, and when there is a work session it means that the Tour is about to work that the Catalan capital, against wind and storms, with natural light or with the support of streetlights, is the place chosen for the debut of the French round.
The bases of the meeting
When? Where? As? Before the end of the year, that is, in the fall, they should see each other again. TO BarcelonaIn fact, with the aim of becoming the venue for the start of the Tour, it doesn’t matter when. Not the where, which would be the heart of the city, and the how, as happened in the VueltaStorm aside, it will be decided by the race technicians, who for some reason understand cycling and know the formula to promote their event beyond the borders of France.
And this is where we encounter a small difficulty. 2025 It is still a free year to bet on leaving the Tour. However, according to Parisian sources, the Grande Boucle (the name by which the French know his career) left in 2022. Copenhagenand 2023 the Bilbao and in 2024 it will do so from Florence. In other words, there are three editions without leaving France, which creates a problem for the organization, because France is their country, because there are many local candidates offered and, although basically they do not have the capital that foreigners offer, The homeland is knocking on the door, so everything indicates that the Tour will finally begin in its country in 2025, which is what the organization of the event likes. Therefore, 2026 would be the year chosen for the French round to start from Barcelona.
Budget options
In fact, the meeting held in Tourmalet – what better scenario – served, according to people familiar with the event, to set the calendar of upcoming meetings, study of the project and budget options. It was no coincidence that one of the people attending was the manager of the Barcelona City Council.
The Tour, that is, Paris, was afraid that Barcelona gave up hosting the Tour due to the tremendous bad luck with the time in the team time trial of the Vuelta. However, at the meeting of the Tourmalet No negative topic came up at any time. Prudhomme He was very cautious, and if money was talked about, which was talked about, it is something that still appears as a secret of the Tour, because the race is not cheap, but the economic return that the test would mean for the Catalan capital is brilliant.
2023-09-10 06:27:58
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