This Saturday, July 6, the Tour de France stage between Nice and La Couillole will take place. This race will welcome 14,000 participants under the same conditions as the champions. For this occasion, Nice Premium interviewed Thomas Delpeuch, who is in charge of this event, about the logistics and organization.
In five days, in Nice, the starting signal for the Etape du Tour between Nice and La Couillole will be given. The event was created to give amateurs the chance to ride a stage of the Tour de France. It’s a way for them to take on the challenge, identify with the professionals, and experience undertaking an important sports challenge. This Saturday, July 6, the 14,000 participants will have to cover 138 km, including four passes with 4,600m of positive elevation: the col de Braus, de Turini, de la Colmiane, and de la Couillole. On this occasion, Thomas Delpeuch, event organizer at A.S.O, talks to us about the organization and the work involved in this emblematic race.
How do you choose the “stage” cities and the route?
“Every year, on the course of the Tour which is mapped out and announced in October, we choose one stage. It’s a stage that meets the expected standards. So there’s the sporting criterion, which means a mountain race with a distance and elevation between 130 and 190 km, and three or four passes. There’s also a logistics criterion since it must be a stage where the start is not too far from the finish or where the connections are not too complicated, so we can set up. Then, a significant part of the choice lies with the local authorities, as not all of them wish or are capable of hosting an additional amateur event. So, we survey the authorities to know who can host and what are the accommodation capacities, for example.”
How does internal coordination work?
“We announce the location about a year in advance. It’s quite remarkable because today we can take on 14,000 participants for the event, and the places sell out in a few hours. It’s a huge success at registration that we launch a few days after the announcement of the location. Despite being open to everyone, there’s always some stress about getting a bib at that moment. You have to be on the ball, on the lookout for the emails we send to know the exact opening time for registrations.”
Is participation paid?
“Yes, of course, participants cover a part of the organization budget. It’s very different from the economic equation with the professional event. Here, it’s like a marathon where people pay for their bibs. It’s part of the leisure and sports budget. Then, they also have to see the tourist offices for their trip, travel arrangements, and accommodation. If the tour comes less than a week later, perhaps they try to stay to do both events.”
Is this what’s expected this year?
“This year, the tour has been organized a bit differently. With a start in Italy and a finish in Nice. It arrives ten days later. There might be two different audiences: one for the stage and one for the Tour de France.”
What are the main safety measures between riders and the public?
“The Etape du Tour is an amateur event with many participants, and the public is slightly smaller compared to the Tour de France. It’s mostly friends, families, locals, or people who are on vacation in the area. So, managing the public is much easier. On the other hand, our main audience is the participants, since there are thousands of them. The two events are very different in that aspect. Our main task is the participants, their safety on the course. These are managed with the local authorities, through the different passages, managing spectator influx in the passes and cities, informing them that traffic will be more complicated. There are also medical resources to assist those who encounter difficulties and possibly fall. Measures with the gendarmerie to block roads which will be entirely reserved for cyclists.”
How do you handle unforeseen circumstances?
“In these events, there are always unforeseen circumstances. Our main one is the weather. Weather has a strong impact on our cyclists’ participation. This is something we don’t know in advance, can’t control in advance, and will only know on the day. If it’s hot, if it starts to rain or there’s a storm. Conditions in the mountains are more difficult to manage than in the city. We can anticipate them in our methods and operations, but we can’t know them in advance. A week before, we will get more stable weather forecasts and more reliable information, allowing us to address our unforeseen circumstances.”
Other unforeseen circumstances to consider?
“Certainly, there are other things. For instance, and we have encountered this several times, issues with the road infrastructure. There might be a partially collapsed road surface, a rockfall in the mountains, cutting off or damaging a road. But with the means provided by the authorities, we can quickly repair the infrastructure so we can pass. There are also severe floods, as we saw in the upper Vésubie area. The priority, of course, is the residents, those who live there year-round. But we also ask ourselves whether we can still pass through that village. It can happen anytime, even six months before the event, two weeks before. We try to react as best as we can with the authorities, with local authorities, but it might necessitate route changes.”
And on the day?
“We have a command post with the prefecture, fire department, gendarmerie, police, road services, along with all our logistical means, our organizations, our medical resources to be able to respond. We might need to fix a truck, for example – this has happened, a truck that spilled gravel on the road, so we had to clear the road to make it passable. Many little things can happen on the day.”
What is the impact of legislative elections?
“Legislative elections that occur on the day of the event. For us, as event organizers, it was not at all possible for this event to disrupt access to polling stations. This is an important rule in France. We try to schedule our events outside of election times. Although the situation arose for us a bit late, the only solution was to move the event to the day before. That was the best solution for everyone, for the organization, participants, local authorities, and the authorities. Some participants had to reschedule their arrival, find an extra night’s accommodation, change a train ticket, so of course, some won’t manage to come. But the essential thing is that some people managed to make the effort, to adapt.”
How far in advance do you start preparing for the Etape du Tour?
“Well, for the Tour de France, my colleagues work even further in advance. Six to eight months before the announcement, so more than a year and a half before the Tour de France. They are doing reconnaissance, route finalization. For the 2024 Tour de France, there were several weeks, months of reconnaissance, and discussions with local authorities. It’s a long-term effort.”
Do you work a lot with the organization of the Tour de France?
“That’s correct. And that’s what’s going to happen in a few months. We’ll have exchanges with them around late August or early September to discuss the finalized route for the 2025 Tour de France and which stage will host the 2025 Etape du Tour. We preselect three or four, and then we decide which will serve as the amateur stage support.”
It’s the 32nd edition, what do you want to bring new compared to previous years and how?
“It’s the first time we’re in the backcountry of Nice. We’ve never been to this area, very close between the sea and the mountains. Usually, we are in the valleys, at the heart of the Pyrenees, so this is the big novelty. We have this landscape with small turns, quite impressive ravines with southern vegetation. These are landscapes that have changed the itinerant aspect of this event. It’s interesting to introduce our participants to different landscapes and regions.”
After completing the stage, what aspects do you consider most and want to improve?
“To improve the events, we rely on what we’ve been able to deliver and offer as an experience to the participants. Just after the event, we always conduct a survey among our participants to know what they enjoyed, what they didn’t like as much. And we try to improve with the feedback. It’s something important and essential. It’s about the experience of those who come to join us, as they come to experience an extraordinary day. We ensure it is a perfect day for them, a day full of emotions on the bike, a day of intense sports, with an organization that makes it enjoyable for them.”
Are there a lot of people managing the Etape du Tour?
“It’s not the same team that manages the stage and the Tour. Our colleagues are currently in Italy for the start, and we are starting to set up in Nice for the Etape du Tour. We have different timings. When defining the event in September, a few people are working on it. And then, over the months, logistics specialists join in, then communication and media specialists. Different fields of activity, all event-related professions get involved in the project, eventually resulting in about fifty people on site, plus important service providers, and collaboration with local authorities.”
The sponsors you have, are they the exact same ones as the Tour de France? What are their contributions?
“For example, the Santini brand, which makes the Tour de France jersey, also offers a souvenir jersey for the stage. So, each time, there’s an extension of the whole Tour de France universe onto the stage. We try to immerse all our participants in a Tour de France atmosphere, which is inspiring on TV and by the roadside.”
The Etape du Tour is free for the public. During the two days preceding the race, a village will be open to everyone and free of charge. The event will take place on Saturday, July 6. The village will be open on Thursday and Friday, in the Albert 1st Garden in Nice.
