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Tour de France celebrates centenary in style
Mont Geron, July 02: Tour de France chiefs Patrice Clerc and Jean-Marie Leblanc launched celebrations to mark the centenary of the worlds most famous cycling race.
Mont Geron, July 02: Tour de France chiefs Patrice Clerc and Jean-Marie Leblanc launched celebrations to mark the centenary of the worlds most famous cycling race.
Patrice Clerc, president of Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc, former five times champion Bernard Hinault inaugurated a new commercial zone in Montgeron, near Paris on Tuesday (July 1) named after 1903 winner Maurice Garin.
They unveiled a plaque on the wall of the building which used to be the Reveil Matin cafe, the site from which 60 riders embarked on the first Tour on July 1, 1903.
Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said :We have prepared, I hope, a good tour, we've selected, I think, the good teams, I think the riders will be inspired, anyway it seems to me that they are excited to participate in the centenary of the Tour.
But above all, we would like this tour to be a party and at the end of July we would like people to say it was great : the ceremonial, the special following vehicles, the special bike ride with 12,000 riders in Paris who will all wear a yellow jersey.
A team of independent observers from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will attend the first week of this years Tour de France and will follow all aspects of the doping-control operations and will issue a public report after the event.
Not only we will have the normal device but for the first week we will have a team from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who will observe, who will make an audit on the way anti-doping operations are conducted, on the procedures, on the regulations, on the analysis etc.... These people will look, will write, will do a report which will be anyway communicated to us --we will eventually be able to make some remarks-- and this report will be handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency but be sure that we have no fear at all about what these neutral observers are going to conclude, said Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc.
Each of the 20 stages of this months Tour will also be a chance to celebrate the centenary. From the prologue near the Eiffel Tower to the finish on the Champs Elysees on July 27, events and shows are scheduled to mark a hundred years of sporting achievements and dramas.
An exhibition of pictures and films is on display in Paris city hall, where the 22 teams and 198 riders will be presented to the public on Friday (July 4).
At the start of the first stage on Sunday (July 5), all the French holders of the overall leaders yellow jersey will be honoured.
Stamps and coins have been issued to celebrate the anniversary. The main celebrations will take place at the finish on the Champs Elysees, when this year's champion will be honoured along with the 22 former winners still alive.
Bureau Report
A team of independent observers from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will attend the first week of this years Tour de France and will follow all aspects of the doping-control operations and will issue a public report after the event.
Not only we will have the normal device but for the first week we will have a team from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who will observe, who will make an audit on the way anti-doping operations are conducted, on the procedures, on the regulations, on the analysis etc.... These people will look, will write, will do a report which will be anyway communicated to us --we will eventually be able to make some remarks-- and this report will be handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency but be sure that we have no fear at all about what these neutral observers are going to conclude, said Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc.
Each of the 20 stages of this months Tour will also be a chance to celebrate the centenary. From the prologue near the Eiffel Tower to the finish on the Champs Elysees on July 27, events and shows are scheduled to mark a hundred years of sporting achievements and dramas.
An exhibition of pictures and films is on display in Paris city hall, where the 22 teams and 198 riders will be presented to the public on Friday (July 4).
At the start of the first stage on Sunday (July 5), all the French holders of the overall leaders yellow jersey will be honoured.
Stamps and coins have been issued to celebrate the anniversary. The main celebrations will take place at the finish on the Champs Elysees, when this year's champion will be honoured along with the 22 former winners still alive.
Bureau Report