- The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme inaugurated the headquarters of the 107th edition of the race at the Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions Nice Acropolis.
- All is set on the eve of the teams presentation ahead of the start of the race on Saturday.
- First timer Miguel Angel Lopez, Dan Martin who managed to recover on time from his crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné and last year’s three time stage winner Caleb Ewan gave pre-race quotes upon arrival in Nice.
TEAMS PRESENTATION ON MASSÉNA SQUARE… AND ONLINE
The teams presentation of the Tour de France traditionally launches the event onsite. The show will start tomorrow at 6.30pm on Masséna Square in Nice. A limited number of spectators will have access because of anti-Covid restrictions. After the pre-race general briefing at the opera, the cyclists will ride for 400 metres to reach the stage where local artists Tambour du Bronx, world champion beatbox band Berywan, dancers from Spotlight Dance Studio, BMX freestylers from Whole Street and acrobats Duo MainTenant will perform. The whole show will be live on digital platforms of seventeen broadcasters, including FranceTélévisions (digital), Eurosport, Global Cycling Network, TV2 Norway, TV2 Denmark, RAI (Italy), NOS (The Netherlands), J Sports (Japan), etc. The teams presentation will also go live on the official Facebook page and Twitter account of the Tour de France as well as on the Facebook page of the city of Nice.
MIGUEL ANGEL LOPEZ TO LEAD ASTANA IN HIS FIRST TOUR DE FRANCE
Miguel Angel Lopez is no stranger to Grand Tours as he has already made the top 3 of the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España but he’s a rookie in the Tour de France. He’s not the only Colombian neophyte at Astana Pro Team though… “I’m very happy to start my first Tour de France”, Lopez said in a video press conference from his hotel in Nice. “It was always one of my biggest dreams to take part in the most important bike race. I’m ready. I’ll race without pressure. I’m here to enjoy the event and we’ll see at the end. I’ve improved my condition in the lead-up to the Tour de France. I have good indications. I’m at the level I wanted to be now. It’s clear that the beginning of the Tour is demanding. We’ll start with several difficult stages. I know the col de Turini from Paris-Nice where the race was eventful so I expect something similar. It’s nice to be one of the ten Colombians riding the Tour. One of them is my young team-mate Harold Tejada who has raced with me for the biggest part of the calendar this year. He’s a neo pro in his first year with us at Astana Pro Team. He’ll be a great champion. He comes to this Tour for the experience that will help him in the future.”
DAN MARTIN TO HUNT FOR STAGES AFTER POST-CRASH RECOVERY
Dan Martin got the green light to ride the Tour de France despite abandoning the Critérium du Dauphiné with sacral fracture twelve days ago. “I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to ride”, the Irishman said in a press conference. “But my recovery has gone incredibly well. Last Monday, I was already back on the bike. I ride with a little bit of discomfort but cycling isn’t a comfortable sport anyway. I’m happy to represent the first Israeli team at the Tour de France. I don’t have any ambition for the first few stages. I have no idea how my body will react on such a hard terrain but it won’t be long until I race to the front and look for a stage victory. Even before the injury, we had decided that I’d race for a stage win rather than for GC. I’ll take my time and hope to be competitive in the final week.”
LE TOUR DE FRANCE FANTASY BY TISSOT
Cycling fans often dream of managing a Tour de France team. They can do it for the third consecutive year with the Fantasy Game that involved 136.000 participants last year. Entries are already open on the platform, notably to compose the line-up thanks to 120 credits for eight cyclists per team who will generate points at every stage. Several changes are possible on the way. It’s advised to designate a road captain every morning. His points will be doubled at the finish. This time around, statistic tool NTT Predictor that defines the probabilities of success for each rider daily will be available. Candidates are invited to visit https://fantasy.letour.fr/#/welcome.
COMBATIVITY PRICE: A COMBATIVE CITIZEN TO BE HONOURED DAILY
Every day a rider is awarded the Antargaz combativity price because of the temper he expresses and the energy he spends. In the particular context of the year 2020, another trophy will be presented daily to “combative citizen” whose action has been remarkable during the sanitary crisis. Nurses, bakers, couriers and paramedics who have greatly contributed to the community will be invited to the race, from the start to the finish of every stage.
CALEB EWAN: “I’M READY TO TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE”
Caleb Ewan is the hot favorite for stage 1 and more after he was the most successful sprinter in the 2019 Tour de France. “I haven’t looked too closely to the parcours yet but there should be about six opportunities for the sprinters this year”, the Australian declared. “Partly due to the parcours that seems more of a GC kind of Tour de France, some sprinters are missing but there are still riders like Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett and André Greipel and as always, it’ll be hard to win. Because of my three wins last year, there are expectations based on that, so I feel more pressure than last year at the start of my first Tour de France. The goal is always to win a stage but if I happen to be the best sprinter in this race, I want as many wins as possible. Since Milan-Sanremo, I’ve stepped up again another level and I’m ready to take up the challenge on Saturday. Stage 1 is not too hard for me. I don’t expect a straightforward sprint. It’ll depend on how the race goes on the climb but there’s a lot of time to come back in the valley where there’s usually headwind which makes it easier to come back. The conditions may be rainy and lower temperatures suit me better than what we experienced in Milan-Sanremo.”
