It’s a very sad day for cycling, in the region and beyond. After 40 editions of the regional race, the organizers of the Tour de Normandie are shutting down for lack of human and financial resources.
If we abused cycling metaphors, we could say that the team has remained united at each stage but cannot reach the next stage for lack of human resources. We have to give up. There, in the midst of the encouragement of the public, the caravan, loyal partners and communities, everything must stop », Arnaud Anquetil, organizer of the Tour of Normandy
The event stops at the top, a few months after a perfect 40th edition in every respect, contested under a bright sun, with lively stages, and a French winner, the Breton Mathis Le Berre. Relaunched in the early 80s by Raymond-Marcel Anquetil, and his whole family behind him, the event lasted four decades, and saw the passing of illustrious names from the world peloton.
World’s best cyclists revealed in Normandy
Let us quote pell-mell the world champion, and multiple wearer of the yellow jersey of the Tour de France Thor Huvshovd, Maximilian Schachmann, double winner of Paris-Nice, Dylan Van Baarle, last winner of Paris-Roubaix, or even the winners of the first two stages of the Grande Boucle which has just begun: Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenowegen. The list is of course not exhaustive.
If the Tour de Normandie has attracted so many young talents and renowned teams in France and abroad, it is because its organization was up to par with the greatest races in the world. To tell the truth, you could imagine yourself on a miniature Tour de France. A substantial and lively start village, perfect route signage, an advertising caravan, arrivals filled with the public… In short, an event of great professionalism, but held at arm’s length by volunteers, who are fewer and fewer in number. .
It’s too complicated. The Tour de Normandie Cycliste is 7 days of racing but it is above all 10 months of work: canvassing, meetings, reconnaissance, team contacts,… Added to this is the cumbersome administrative regulations which are always necessary. more to the team.
With the end of the Tour de Normandie, the region loses one of the major sporting events on its calendar. But who knows? Perhaps it will rise again one day from its ashes… Created in 1939, it had been put on hold because of the Second World War, before resuming in 1955, then interrupting again from 1960 to 1981. The Covid-19 pandemic also prevented the event from being held for two years, in 2020 and 2021.