Tour de France boost security before first stage

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Tour de France organisers are ready to adjust to any situation amid the riots that have erupted in the country following the fatal shooting of a teenager by police, race director Christian Prudhomme said on Saturday.

“We are in constant liaison with the State services and we are following the situation and how it has been evolving,” Prudhomme told reporters.

Law enforcement officers are designated to ensure security at the end of every stage and questions arose as to whether they could be pulled out of the race to be redeployed to anti-rioting duties.

“Depending on what happens we will adapt if needed,” Prudhomme said.

The Tour starts on Saturday from Bilbao and will enter France on Monday with a finish in Bayonne and a start from Dax for the fourth stage on Tuesday.

SAFETY PADDING

Organisers will install padding on the trickiest section of the descent from the Col de la Loze on the 17th stage as part of a global effort to improve riders’ safety following the death of Gino Mader.

The decision to use padding was made before Swiss rider Mader died in a high-speed crash in a descent at the Tour de Suisse this month.

“We will install Alpine skiing padding in the descent from the Col de la Loze, on the trickiest part,” Prudhomme said.

After his death, Tour organisers decided, in agreement with the rider’s family and his Bahrain Victorious team, to pull bib number 61 from a race that will be highly scrutinised.

On Saturday, the International Cycling Union (UCI), the Association of race organisers, the riders’ union and the teams’ association announced the creation of a body designed to improve the riders’ safety.

The body, called ‘safeR’, will not be functional before 2025 and funding has yet to be set up but all participants hailed an unprecedented effort to “sit together at the same table and work together.”

Prudhomme added that some 130km of roads had been renovated in the Alpine local government department of Haute Savoie, 2.5 of them in the fast descent from the Col de Joux Plane.

TOUR FAVOURITES

Tadej Pogacar has named Jonas Vingegaard as the big favourite for the Tour, but the defending champion would not be drawn into mind games.

Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour winner, has had a troubled build-up after breaking his wrist two months ago, with the Slovenian saying one of his bones had not fully healed yet, making his Danish rival the natural front-runner for the title this year.

“It doesn’t matter who says who the favourite is but at the end of the day it comes down to who is in the best shape,” Vingegaard told a news conference.

“I can also say he is the big favourite.”

Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team mate Wout van Aert said: “I think it’s mind games.”

Vingegaard beat Pogacar last year thanks to a brutal team attack in the ascent to the Col du Granon, which left the Slovenian stunned and eventually having to settle for second place overall.

Nicknamed the ‘Baby Cannibal’ in reference to the great Eddy Merckx and the Belgian’s take-no-prisoner approach, Pogacar is likely to start the race with all guns blazing and Vingegaard is expecting no less from his main rival.

The opening week will be brutal, with tough stages in the opening days on hilly terrain, which play into Pogacar’s strategy.

“Actually yes I would expect him to attack (early in the race), a bit like last year,” said Vingegaard.

“I’ll just have to be ready for it. We will need to do our best and see what we can do.”

Vingegaard could be more at ease on the longer climbs.

“There will be a lot of super hard stages,” he said.

“I’m well prepared and I’m where I want to be.”

– Reuters