Speaking to the kids about today’s cycling champions, the Tour de France and its passing in their hometowns in 2018 was the objective of this dictation contest that took place today in many stage towns of the upcoming “Grande Boucle”. In total, 10,000 students aged between the ages of 10 and 12 had to work on excerpts of daily regional press articles about the Tour de France. Let us look back on this day where the Tour de France reminds us that cycling is about the head AND the legs!
«The magnitude that the Dictée has reached is fantastic », said this morning the delighted, director of the race, Christian Prudhomme. Today, for its second edition, 10,000 school children participated in the Dictée du Tour, which is twice as many as last year. Nearly all the communities (stage cities and departments) visited took part in the operation. The idea is still the same. Each dictation was taken from a regional daily newspaper article about the Tour de France. And there were some well-known cycling personalities doing the reading like Bernard Thévenet (Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile), Thomas Voeckler (La Roche-sur-Yon), David Lappartient (Sarzeau), Jérôme Pineau (Lorient), Emmanuel Hubert (Fougères), Cédric Vasseur (Roubaix), Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (Laruns) and André Darrigade (St-Pée-sur-Nivelle) ; political and sporting personalities such as Sébastien Lecornu (Eure), Florian Merrien (Seine-Maritime), Christophe Pelissier (Amiens), Tessa Worley (Grand-Bornand), François Bayrou (Pau) and Jean-Paul Ollivier (Houilles). What better way to motivate the students to put in a perfect score?
After the excitement it was time to concentrate, and then there was the church-like silence when it came time to listen to the readers. Following this short text, the students then had to write a few cycling terms without error. So is it « helmet », « helmut » or « helmat »?
Arthur from Mouilleron Saint Germain was hesitant about the answer to the secondary question « I don’t know if it was Bardet or Barguill who won the polka-dot jersey in last year’s Tour de France ». At Grand-Bornand the students were studious but also thrilled. « It was amazing that Tessa read the dictation ». But the pearl of the day comes from a young student who opted for « legendhairy instead of « legendary ».
The eight big winners for each stage city of the 2018 Tour de France concerned by the dictation contest will all be known on 18 May, which will be exactly 50 days before the start of Le Tour in Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile. In finding their name among the winners, the students will be able to already imagine the visit of the Tour de France in their town or village. Thanks to the Dictée du Tour, they will experience an unforgettable day when Le Tour comes to their hometown.
The participating communities and newspapers:
Noirmoutier-en l’Île – Ouest France (March 30th)
Fontenay-le-Comte – Ouest France (March 30th)
Mouilleron-Saint-Germain – Ouest France (March 30th)
La Roche-sur-Yon – Ouest France (March 30th)
Cholet – Ouest France (April 6th)
La Baule – Presse Océan (March 30th)
Sarzeau – Presse Océan (March 30th)
Lorient – Télégramme (March 30th)
Quimper – Télégramme (March 30th)
Brest – Télégramme (March 30th)
Ille-et-Vilaine -Ouest France (March 30th)
Mûr de Bretagne / Côte d’Armor – Ouest France (March 30th)
Fougères - Ouest France (March 30th)
Dreux – L’Echo Républicain (March 30th)
Eure – Texte Prix Jacques Goddet (March 30th)
Seine-Maritime – Texte Prix Jacques Goddet (March 30th)
Amiens – Le Courrier Picard (30 mars)
Arras – La Voix du Nord (March 30th)
Roubaix – La Voix du Nord (March 30th)
Annecy – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Le Grand-Bornand - Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Albertville – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
La Rosière – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Bourg-Saint-Maurice – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Alpe d’Huez – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Bourg d’Oisans – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Département de l’Isère – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 29th)
Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Le Dauphiné Libéré (March 30th)
Mende – Midi Libre (March 30th)
Millau – La Dépêche du Midi (March 30th)
Carcassonne – Midi Libre (March 30th)
Bagnères-de-Luchon – La Dépêche du Midi (March 30th)
Ariège - Texte Prix Jacques Goddet (to follow)
Saint-Lary-Soulan - La Dépêche du Midi (March 30th)
Trie-sur-Baïse - La Dépêche du Midi (March 30th)
Pyrénées-Atlantiques - Christian Laborde / Le Tour de France dans les Pyrénées (March 30th)
Pau – Ouest France (March 30th)
Laruns – Christian Laborde / Le Tour de France dans les Pyrénées (March 30th)
Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle – Sud Ouest (March 30th)
Espelette – Sud Ouest (March 30th)
Houilles – Le Parisien (March 30th)
