Cycling will be celebrated on September 30 in Évaux-les-Bains (Creuse). The town will host the trophy presentation for the very first Challenge Poulidor, a competition which will reward cyclists and amateur clubs who have scored the most points in 93 French amateur races. Marc Madiot, the sports director of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team and sponsor of the first edition of the Challenge Poulidor, should be present.
93 member races
To award the trophies, the organizers of the Challenge Poulidor will base themselves on the results of 93 amateur road cycling races throughout France until the end of September. All these races are members of the ROCC, the Gathering of Cycling Race Organizers. Competitions that are not part of the ROCC will not appear in the challenge results. The Challenge has already started and takes into account the results of the races since February. In all, 187 runners are already classified. The various winners will win gifts or a sum of money for the best ranked. The Challenge Poulidor will award a trophy for the best cyclist, the best youngster (U21) and the best team.
For Claude Louis, president of the association of Friends of Raymond Poulidor, co-organizer of the Challenge, this competition is the way to pay tribute to the legend Raymond Poulidor but also to promoting amateur cycling : “To think that in the space of 20 years, 80% of road races have disappeared, is to say that the attractiveness of cycling in clubs has practically disappeared” he denounces. According to him, the disappearance of these races “jeopardizes the level access sector”. “A month and a half ago, I was discussing with Luc Leblanc (former road cycling champion, editor’s note). He told me that in the current context he could not turn professional. If parents who have young juniors have to do 200 kilometers every Sunday, it’s not possible” he continues.
The award ceremony will take place in the La Source room in Évaux-les-Bains on Friday 30 September.
Evaux-les-Bains, land of cycling
It’s a land of champions
This trophy presentation in Évaux-les-Bains was obvious for the mayor of the town Bruno Papineau: “It’s a land of cycling” he throws. “Here, people love cycling. Like everywhere in France. It’s a sport accessible to everyone and our terrain lends itself well to it if you want to hurt yourself as they say” laughs the mayor. He pursues : “It’s a land of champions. We are a bit like Julian Alaphilippe’s training ground (double world champion in road cycling, editor’s note) and then as we are talking about Raymond Poulidor, we must not forget that he was born in Creuse. He came very often to Évaux-les-Bains and he disputed a lot of victories with Bastianelli. They often got fried on the bike.”
Évaux-les-Bains still aims to host a stage of the Tour de France. The application has been sent. The town hall is now waiting for a return.