As part of its "Riding into the Future" programme to promote cycling, the Tour de France launched the "Tour de France Cycle City" label in 2021, which encourages all initiatives taken by municipalities to promote daily cycling.
For this second edition, A.S.O. received applications from 34 cities, four of which are outside France. This year, 14 of the candidate cities are on the route of the 2022 edition, and six are on the map of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Paris is the only candidate city to host both events. The deliberations will take place this Thursday, April 14th. The jury's decisions will be announced on Wednesday, May 11th 2022.
This year, once again, the candidate cities vary greatly in size, rural and urban, French and European, but they all share the same essential objective: to promote cycling as a means of transportation. Following the application phase, 34 cities submitted a complete dossier to the Tour's organisers. The candidature dossiers detail the measures already in place. And the development plans implemented in the short and medium-term at the local level to encourage cycling (deployment of infrastructure, improvement of cycling safety, learning to ride a bike, parking and the fight against theft, maintenance and repair, promotional tools, etc.). All these elements contribute to the development of cycling as a means of transport, a source of recreation, and essential for exercising.
The European friends of the Tour de France have once again answered the call this year for this second edition: Denmark (Copenhagen, host city of the 2022 Grand Départ), Luxembourg (Esch-sur-Alzette), Switzerland (Lausanne) are presenting a candidacy for the first time, while the Netherlands, already involved through Rotterdam last year, are represented by Valkenburg, the host city of the Amstel Gold Race. Fourteen French cities from the 2022 Tour de France route and six cities from the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route have submitted their candidature, as well as Paris, the only candidate city that will host both events on Sunday, July 24th. Eleven cities have a population of less than 10,000, including Saint-Lary-Soulan (844 inhabitants), L'Alpe d'Huez (1,350 inhabitants) and Saint-Chaffrey (1,530 inhabitants), which are the three smallest cities. Thirteen other cities that have already hosted the Grande Boucle in the past also wished to submit a bid. The jury is now reviewing all the applications and will announce its decisions on Wednesday, May 11th 2022, during the "Mai à Vélo" campaign.
The composition of the ‘‘Tour de France Cycle City’’ label jury:
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France; Olivier Schneider, president of the FUB; Émilie Defay, deputy editor-in-chief of France Bleu Paris; David Lazarus, mayor of Chambly and president of the "Sports" working group of the French Mayors' Association; Jean Ghedira, director of communication, sponsorship and general secretariat of LCL; Karine Bozzacchi, head of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of the Tour de France.
Candidate cities for the 2022 award process:
Albi, Alpe d'Huez, Antony, Argelès-Gazost, Arras, Bar-le-Duc, Belfort, Calais, Carcassonne, Châteauroux, Copenhagen (Denmark), Dole, Épernay, Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), Foix, Lausanne (Switzerland), Lourdes, Meaux, Mende, Morzine Avoriaz, Mulhouse, Nanterre, Paris, Reims, Rosheim, Saint-Chaffrey, Saint-Étienne, Saint-Gervais, Saint-Lary-Soulan, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, Sélestat, Tomblaine, Valkenburg (Netherlands), Villers-sur-Mer.
