The contours of the edition 2021 of the Tour de France is emerging little by little. The next year, the greatest cycling race will depart from the city of Brest. In addition, the first four steps will be in Britain, as announced this Monday, August 10th, the region and the Tour director Christian Prudhomme. "We discussed with the region of Brittany, the next big departure from 2018 ", explained to the Agence France-Presse Christian Prudhomme. "Last fall, we had stalled on 2022 and we had expected an announcement in the spring. But, of course, the pandemic is over there. "
the Copenhagen accord, which was to host the grand départ 2021, will wait one more year. The report of the Tokyo olympic Games in the summer of 2021 due to the pandemic of sars coronavirus has caused a change of dates on the Tour and, therefore, the site of its launch. "We realized a month ago that the cycling events of the games do bougeraient no date and the international cycling Union has advanced to the Round of a week. The mayor of Copenhagen, told us : "We want to Tour, but it is not known to do so for reasons of security and logistics", also for us hosting. The only possible solution, it was a year later ", said Christian Prudhomme, adding " really, really know grateful to the regional council to have reversed, with Denmark ".
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The kick-off will therefore be given to Brest for the fourth time in a hundred-year history of the Tour. The city, and beyond its metropolis, which has around 420 000 inhabitants, which already hosted the grand départ in 1952, 1974 and 2008. Against a one-time Reindeer (1964), the prefecture of the region.
Four departures, a record
"Four departures of the Tour, this will be a record for a city other than Paris," noted Prudhomme. "There is a real logic from the tip of the peninsula and back. I remember receiving a letter from the mayor saying a few years ago "It is at the end of the peninsula, one comes to see us a little less often but we love the Tour". "
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Asked about the assumption of a great start in Rennes, refused by elected officials ecologists, local, Christian Prudhomme has avoided the controversy : "The Tour may not go where communities want to go, it has always been like that. "
"Even with four steps 100 % breton, we know that we will not be able to satisfy all applications," stressed the director of the Tour without revealing the names of the stage towns. "It is a passage of great fort worth Brittany. Four steps, it's been very long that this has not happened. In 2008, it was two steps and a starting point. "Christian Prudhomme was also referred to the Hauts-de-France," another area that obviously loves the bike " : "We will not go next year as they were initially on the course 2021. The change of departure that this is the first week of the Tour changes. "To know the course, it will have to wait a few months. The presentation of the Tower 2021 is scheduled for October 29, a week later than expected.
