Tour de France Village in Cagnes sur Mer

This year, the Tour de France is celebrating 100 years of love with the public. As everyone more or less rides a bike in his life, cycling is a sport that is both popular and carries emotion by the dramatic dimension of the stages episodes. The passion is 100% alive and we invite you to visit the Tour de France Village in Cagnes sur Mer and see some champions before the start.

Cagnes sur Mer, a few kilometers away from Nice, is a new departure city. After the team time trial the previous day in Nice, racers started on the sea front in front of the Hippodrome de la Côte d’Azur. Before the departure, the Tour Village welcomes guests of different partners and sponsors of the race. The entrance to the village was surrounded by posters of the winners of the Tour de France and organizers welcomed guests with tricks or juggling numbers. Each partner has a stand to receive their guests and highlight their brand products.
For example, the PMU, sponsor of the best sprinter Green Jersey, is celebrating this year the sixtieth anniversary of the Green Jersey. The PMU exhibited the Green Jersey signed by Peter Sagan, current holder of this distinctive jersey. Other stands like Sodexho, the Madeleines Saint Michel or Cochonou were having people savor fruit, cakes or meats. Vittel offered a “cool spot” with mineral water. Before the start of the riders, the Tour caravan made its parade.
The publicity caravan consists of 180 vehicles: cars, quads, trucks, floats, representing 37 brands and stretches over 12 km. The parade is a show that delights young and old and have spectators wait into a frenzy of calls, arms outstretched, to receive a gift that charming hostesses generously give away. Highly acclaimed in the caravan, the many Vittel floats. On one of them, a hostess offered a freestyle shot of freshness with a fogger.
After the departure of the publicity caravan, racers begun to arrive to the large Tour de France podium to sign the attendance sheet and be introduced, individually or in team, to the public. The protocol is respected: cycling stars and favorites arrive for a late signing, when all photographers and TV cameras are here, to give interviews, inform on their shape of the day or provide insights on the race. Finally, the riders took off to reach Marseille at the end of a long stage (228 km). The stage ended by a sprint finish and was won by Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step), ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) and Peter Sagan  (Cannondale).

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