The director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, assured EFE that Barcelona has “all the ingredients to make a good start to the race” in 2026with its “sporting geography”, between Montjuïc and the sea, its Olympic past and the support “of one of the world’s great cycling nations”.
Barcelona, which this Tuesday was announced as the city that will host the start of the race in 2026, will take from Florence, the starting point of this year’s edition, the southernmost start outside France in its centennial history of Tour. AND, according to Prudhomme, it will mark “growing proximity to Spain”which was already shown last year at the beginning in Bilbao.
“The Tour wants to leave prestigious cities abroad and after doing it in cities like Copenhagen, like in Bilbao or like this year in Florence, It was logical that we went to a place like Barcelona“said the leader of the French round.
Prudhomme recalled that Jordi Hereu had already tried for Barcelona to host the Grand Départ del Tour when he was in charge of the city between 2006 and 2011, but rejected the project after being expelled from the Mayor’s Office.
Jaume Collboni took the baton as Ada Colau’s representative and gave the decisive push after receiving the baton of command, Prudhomme said, highlighting the mayor’s role and saying that until now he was the only one he spoke to.
“The support of the Vuelta, which has already left Barcelona in 2023, and the Volta has also been important.“said the Tour director in reference to the two races also organized by his company.
“Barcelona is a prestigious sports city. We always think about the Barcelona Games that left a great legacy and they are an example of that for everyone. But it’s also a city with a very sporting geography and Montjuïc plays a very important role there, which was key to our decision,” he added.
Always attentive to the inclusion of “difficulties for the general favorites from the first days of the competition so that the interest grows during the three weeks”, Prudhomme highlighted the role that the Olympic mountain will play, but also the sea , “which always appears at one point or another on the Tour,” he said.
Montjuïc certainly hosts the finish line of a stage won by the Norwegian Thor Hushovd in 2009, in the last four visits of the French round to Barcelona, after 1957, when it started and finished, and that of 1965. .
“This is the year of my birth,” recalls the director of the Tour about this last date, highlighting the importance of having “one of the great cycling countries, like Spain.” For this reason, he wanted to pay tribute to the races organized in the country, “such as the Vuelta a Burgos, which was first held during the pandemic and paved the way for others, including the Tour.”
“Cycling must be strong in its foundations. There is Italy and we will start in Florence this year, but also in countries like Spain, obviously, where we will have two great tours in three years. Also Belgium or the Netherlands and of course France,” he said.
In this sense, Prudhomme indicated that the start in Barcelona could “stimulate” Spanish cycling, “which needs great champions like the ones we are starting to see.”
Source: La Verdad
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