Tour: Prudhomme, ‘Happy Grand Départ from Florence with the Sun’

FLORENCE, JUN 26 – “I am very happy with this first big start” from Italy, “as you know it had never happened before in the history of the Tour de France”, and “I saw that the rain of the last few days is behind us and that we will have a beautiful sun, the beautiful sun of Florence, which adapts very well to the Grand Départ”. This was stated by Christian Prudhomme, general director of the Tour de France, guest of the Becycle salon at Pitti Immagine in Florence. On Saturday the tour will start from the Tuscan capital to stop first in Emilia Romagna and then in Piedmont. “I am very happy to see collateral events like this – he said – in which the worlds of culture and the Tour de France mix, and obviously I can’t wait to witness the first brawls from Florence to Rimini and then obviously from Cesenatico to Bologna, passing through the San Luca climb, and then the third stage for the sprinters”. Speaking again about Becycle, Prudhomme said he was very impressed by the collection of cycling-themed memorabilia, from jerseys to vintage magazines, by the English designer Paul Smith. “I knew, obviously,” he noted, “that he was madly in love with cycling. The collection is absolutely remarkable. You can tell he’s a real enthusiast, and meeting people who have had success in fashion, even though he originally wanted to be a racing cyclist , it’s really very beautiful: I’m impressed by his collection.” (HANDLE).