The headquarters of the 105th edition of the Tour de France are open in Mouilleron-le-Captif, the hometown of Thomas Voeckler in the outskirts of La Roche-sur-Yon, the prefecture of the Vendée province. The 23000 square-meters Vendéspace hosts the operations of the Grand Départ as well as the media centre for the three days preceding stage 1 set to take place from Noirmoutier-en-l’Île to Fontenay-le-Comte. A bunch of 150 young cyclists from the 37 clubs of Vendée, all dressed in yellow, anticipated the Tour de France contenders for a gathering around Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, Pays de la Loire president Christelle Morançais and Vendée president Yves Auvinet who officially launched the event. They later attended the kids’ press conference and questioned last year’s stage 8 winner Lilian Calmejane of Direct Energie, Groupama-FDJ’s rookie David Gaudu and Voeckler. They were particularly curious about the pro riders’ debut in cycling. “I played rugby and tennis before discovering the taste of the true sporting effort in cycling”, Calmejane said. “Like many of you guys, I started racing at the age of 6”, Gaudu answered. It quickly became a pleasure, then a passion and now a job as well.”
