Editorial

Since it was launched in 1961, the Tour de l’Avenir has prepared new generations of cyclists for the key events of the cycling season. Over a ten-day period it provides an ideal course for future champions. Time-trial stages, plains, and mountains: all participants here find a terrain to match their potential ambitions.

The Tour de l’Avenir can pride itself on a list of prestigious past champions whose names merit respect : Felice Gimondi, Joop Zoetemelk, Greg LeMond, Miguel Indurain, Laurent Fignon, Denis Menchov.

The Tour de l’Avenir is a breeding ground; the general classification, though highly prestigious, cannot in itself convey the full extent of the event’s precious value. The additional classifications reveal a fantastic in-depth accomplishment; a selection of cycling’s future elite. This is confirmed in the names that appear in the different classifications, names like Beloki, Chavanel, Armstrong, Jalabert, Kirsipuu, Dekker, Wiggins, Hushovd, Bodrogi, Moncoutie, Paolini, Landis etc.

This 43^rd edition, from Charleroi in Belgium to Marcinelle in Savoie, located in Saint-Nicolas-la-Chapelle, via the massifs of the Vosges the Jura and the Alps, should allow us to discover new talents, and future champions.

Jean-François PESCHEUX

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