Need to run the Tour de France? There’s no emptiness right this moment but it surely’s beginning to be talked about.
A entrance seat on the Tour de France, limitless meals and wine, it sounds tempting…
Christian Prudhomme is the directeur du cyclisme at Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the Tour de France. He 63 years previous, the notional retirement age in France but it surely’s not obligatory and there’s no emptiness but. Nonetheless he’s beginning to evoked retirement, phrases like “being nearer to the tip [of his career] than the beginning” have emerged, discuss even of succession.
The job won’t be what you assume. The high-level enterprise aspect like negotiating TV rights and wrangling with the UCI is completed by individuals above like Yann Le Moenner, the directeur général of ASO, as within the chief government. The technical aspect like crafting the race routes is essentially led by Thierry Gouvenou, the race directeur ex-pro who appears happiest exploring new roads and discussing the day’s vertical acquire somewhat than being a salesman.
Pierre-Yves Thouault is Prudhomme’s deputy however he’s the auxiliary, a help with technical expertise who can go from discussing policing necessities to diesel turbines the following. And in case you’ve not heard of him that’s virtually the purpose.
Prudhomme and his position of directeur du cyclisme may be very seen. It’s what defines the job; simply as there are lots of technical duties for the Giro and Vuelta too however the public face is Mauro Vegni or Javier Guillén.
Learn or hearken to sufficient Prudhomme interviews and the identical tales and features usually repeat. One in all them is that his position will not be actually a job, it’s not a profession even however a “mission”, usually rapidly chased by a line to say it’s nothing divine in fact, simply that it’s consuming.
He’s the one who presents the route yearly and is the face in July however there’s a variety of work the remainder of the yr to make all of it occur. He travels round France to community with the politicians who’re the shoppers of ASO. A mayor right here, a senator there and préfets in every single place, a variety of time is spent within the millefeuille, France’s layercake of native and regional governments. France’s annual meeting of départments, the congress of mayors and the Paris agricultural honest the three unmissable appointments within the yr.
For all of the conferences with politicians and technocrats Prudhomme and the Tour are largely apolitical, even when he was a signatory to a letter in 2017 the place individuals in France’s sports activities sphere cautioned in opposition to voting for the far proper within the presidential elections. In any other case there’s a convivial neutrality concerning the Tour in a rustic the place every part may be politicised. Handing out stage of the Tour de France will not be contentious, politicians who don’t need the race don’t apply so there are few losers left with an axe to grind; cities not glad by this yr’s route usually get a nod and a wink it’ll be there time quickly.
In July days are spent within the group automotive, partly to supervise the race but in addition internet hosting a VIP, presumably the French president. He can go to 2 dinners in a night to fulfill expectant locals. It’s not simply the riders who go massive on energy this month, the job virtually requires a second abdomen, a second liver even.
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One other bodily requirement is a agency handshake. One Prudhomme quip is that his elbow has a reminiscence of its personal as a result of when he goes to greet somebody there’s a short second the place he struggles to recall their identify however as his elbow unbends and his hand strikes ahead for the handshake, all of the sudden their identify emerges on the tip of his tongue.
Within the job since 2007 Prudhomme has formed the race. However has he made the race extra TV pleasant with by no means greater than two dash phases in a row, fewer time trials, extra mid-mountains and particular summit finishes just like the Galibier and Granon as a result of he desires this, or is that this simply what the TV market calls for and know-how permits? In all probability each, the Tour has lent into this greater than the Giro, borrowing from its sister race the Vuelta whereas visits to the Planche des Belles Filles or the Puy-de-Dôme have had a private contact. Exploring that is for one more day.
Till the Eighties a variety of the Société du Tour, as ASO was referred to as then, was staffed by ex-army sorts, colonels and lieutenants; now it has a big share of ex-pros. However the directeur has come from the media, whether or not Henri Desgrange, Jacques Goddet or Jean-Marie Leblanc, journalists from the in-house newspaper. Prudhomme was an outsider who got here from radio and TV which explains loads for a job that requires a variety of speaking. Is the following candidate going to come back from the media? Simply as Leblanc picked Prudhomme and had him first as a deputy so he might be launched to mayors and others earlier than he took over, the identical is more likely to occur once more.
May Marion Rousse be promoted? Why not. FranceTV’s lead commentator Alexandre Pasteur might step in aged 53, a coincidence or not he’s watching right this moment’s stage from Prudhomme’s automotive.
When Leblanc began searching for a successor twenty years in the past he had a number of candidates in thoughts. He thought the job wanted three qualities: it is advisable to know biking effectively, you must like individuals, and also you want have a way of public curiosity and responsibility. These most likely nonetheless maintain if you wish to polish your CV.
The submit The Prime Job first appeared on The Inside Ring.
