Are you surprised by the announcement of the stoppage of the Tour de Normandie?
Anthony Delaplace: It’s true that for a few years, and the Covid hasn’t helped matters, the organization was fragile in terms of volunteering and finances, so I’m not surprised but saddened. The Tour de Normandie, for 40 years, it was a reference, especially for young riders. We no longer count those who then made a great career. It was a very formative one-week event for the youngsters with a lot of diversity on the course. There aren’t many like that. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s going to work out. Volunteering is slowly dying.
Are you worried that other races will also disappear in the future for similar reasons?
What I notice about the professional events is that there are fewer and fewer people motivated to be volunteers and the events that manage to have a good financial health are obliged to hire more and more staff to compensate for the lack of volunteers. We are going to have to go through this otherwise other events will be threatened.
The events that disappear from the calendar, it is always difficult to relaunch them (…).
Is your victory in the Tour of Normandy in 2017 still a highlight of your career?
Of course, even if it’s a class 2. It was still THE big regional race, the only professional stage race in the region, with the final finish in Caen in the presence of my family. And then all week I had been in yellow thanks to the work of the whole team. It’s a very good moment in my career.
Do you think there is any hope of seeing the Tour de Normandie reborn in the years to come?
From experience, all the pro events that disappear from the calendar, it’s always complicated to relaunch them a few years later. We need to find a young and motivated team to immediately restart the Tour de Normandie, otherwise it will be very complicated.