Racing Hard by Fotheringham William

Author:Fotheringham, William [Fotheringham, William]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780571303632
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2013-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

Vendée takes detour on road to redemption

26 June 2011

The Tour de France is back in the Vendée and back at Madman’s Hill. Yet again. This week, the region south-west of Nantes will host its fourth Grand Départ of the Tour in 18 years, after 1993, 1999 and 2005. That is astonishing given the demand from cities and regions all across Europe to host the five-day junket that brings in millions in revenues from the Tour and its vast caravan. There is, however, a good reason for this.

It boils down to a partnership going back 20 years between a politician, Philippe de Villiers, and a former professional cyclist, Jean-Rene Bernaudeau, who was chief lieutenant to the five-times Tour winner Bernard Hinault in the late 1970s and early 1980s. De Villiers, president of the Vendée general council from 1988 until his resignation in 2010, wanted to promote his region. Bernaudeau, who is now 55, wanted to set up a cycling club that would nurture young riders, as he himself had been nurtured in his youth.

Symbolically, next Sunday’s stage two will start and finish in front of the Manoir de Saint Michel, an attractive 19th-century manor house in the village of Les Essarts which is the headquarters of Bernaudeau’s project. On Thursday, the riders of the Tour will be presented to the public at the Puy du Fou – Madman’s Hill – theme park, dreamed up by De Villiers as a way of simultaneously bringing the public to his region and promoting his “traditional” view of French history.

In a sport that has been buffeted by drugs scandals for a dozen years, it is a success story and possible role model for the future. The amateur club founded by Bernaudeau, who twice finished sixth in the Tour, ran for 10 years before he founded a professional team to sit at the top of the structure; now, sponsored by Europcar, they are France’s most successful Tour team, having taken two stage wins last year with Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fédrigo, and the King of the Mountains title with Anthony Charteau. Bernaudeau and his riders are the régionaux of this weekend’s racing, and will be warmly supported.

Below the pro team sits the 20-rider strong Vendee-U amateur team, a feeder squad sponsored jointly by the Vendee departement and a supermarket. The bottom of the pyramid is the sport-etudes project, also known as Pole Espoir which has two full-time staff overseeing 50 young cyclists combining cycle training and studies.

“The goal was to create a philosophy of cycling which combined education and work and cycling,” Bernaudeau says. Among the centre’s intake are cyclists from outside the sport’s mainstream: France’s Pacific and Atlantic islands. Three-quarters of the Europcar team have come through the structure, notably the team leader Voeckler, pictured left, probably the most popular cyclist in France. “The advantage of the Pole Espoir is that you can combine study and sport and come away with a qualification,” Voeckler says. “It’s important because in sport you don’t always make it.”

Bernaudeau’s

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