Porto-Vecchio

Some years ago, few would have believed such a challenge possible: to turn Porto-Vecchio into the special setting for a major international cycling event and witness its beautiful landscape unfurling on TV channels around the world for a whole weekend. And yet, for the third consecutive year, our beautiful city is playing host to the Critérium International. We owe the tremendous success of the first two editions to a growing partnership between our colleagues at the Amaury Sport Organisation and our municipal services but also especially to the determination of an entire community of enterprising male and female volunteers – united by a common goal and driven by a sense of belonging – to render our city ever more attractive. This mobilisation involves all: elected representatives, entrepreneurs, heads of associations, and socio-economic actors.

The third largest town in Corsica, with nearly 12,000 inhabitants, Porto-Vecchio has chosen to focus particularly on excellence in sport. The recently opened Prunellu sports complex is a marvellous illustration of this. This new facility includes a football field with artificial turf, a stand with over 350 seats and a 450-seater sports hall. This €4 million initiative was funded by the municipality, the Regional Authority of Corsica, the County Council of South Corsica and the State. Approved by the municipal council in 2008, this two-year project provided the residents of Puerto Vecchio with an additional sports complex to complement the existing and newly refurbished facilities. This new tool will soon be complemented by six tennis courts and a clubhouse, while another flagship project – a swimming pool – is well underway.
This adoption of a dynamic and ambitious sports policy, coupled with our professionalism, have been rewarded beyond our expectations since, in 2013, Corsica will host the Tour de France for the first time in its history and Porto-Vecchio itself will be the scene of the Grand Start of the centennial edition of the Tour. As this exceptional event approaches, there can be no doubt that this third edition of the Critérium International will generate equal levels of excitement in Porto-Vecchio and South Corsica.

www.porto-vecchio.fr
www.destination-sudcorse.com