To start, can you remind our readers what the Tour Voile? is?
The Sailing Tour ( Editor's note: Since 2018 the Tour de France à la Voile has changed its name to the Tour Voile ) is a reference in French sailing, which has been used since 1978, 30?000 by team members, as the founder of the race, Bernard Decré, likes to remind us.
It is a summer classic, a monument of French sailing that will celebrate its 42 e edition in 2019. There are several components of its DNA
- One design: sailors are fighting on equal terms
- A stage competition that is played with a crew.
- A mixed format with coastal raids rather related to the offshore racing family and water stadium races closer to the inshore family. It is one of the few competitions that brings these two families together.
The sailors of the Tour Voile therefore come from one of these two families and are among the most complete sailors. With these two formats, the Tour Voile is a very difficult circuit to control on these different aspects.
How many boats are you expecting compared to the year dernière??
The competition will run from Friday, July 5 to Sunday, July 21. What is generally immutable is to start during the first weekend of the school holidays.
On the boats, we had 26 in 2018 and we will once again be in our thirties. It's not really an issue anymore because we have a very nice fleet every time. This year, we have a nice name for the references of sailing, which, after winning in 2013, returns in 2019. Franck Cammas will be in charge of one of the 3 boats of the Oman Sail project.
He is the perfect example, at the highest level, of the most complete sailors. He has a magnificent record of success, both in offshore and inshore racing with the America's Cup.
We can really see that the Diam24 is working well. The Tour is attractive, offers fierce competition and beautiful images for spectators. There is a real commitment from sailors. That's pretty great.
What's new for this édition??
There will be 2 new products in 2019.
In sport, a mixed classification is introduced, which will be by extraction of the general, eligible for crews who will embark a team member. Sailing is a mixed environment and even if we already have female crews or crews who take on board female crew members, we hope to encourage diversity.
Another new feature is that each crew will have to write on its mast a name of the city or territory to which it belongs so that the public can easily identify with a team.
Introduce us to the Tour's route Voile?2019. What are the stopover cities and is there changement??
In 2018, a new shorter, even more intense and impactful format was introduced for both the media and the general public. We were totally satisfied last year so we are renewing this format. These are 17 days of events, 15 of which were spent on the water. There is no time out.
As always, since the launch 34 times in 42 editions the start will be from Dunkirk. It is a true love story with this city since Dunkirk marks the launch of the Tour and the latter launches the summer season.
The arrival stabilizes with Nice, which will be the host city for the 6th e times, especially with the Promenade des Anglais and its infrastructures which allow you to enjoy a very beautiful show.
We have new cities compared to last year which are Fécamp, Jullouville, Les Sables-d'Olonne and Port Barcarès and the pleasure of seeing Hyères return to the Var, on the lands of Toulon Provence Méditerranée.
How are the cities étapes? chosen?
These are cities where pools of communities apply. Cities are developing multi-year applications, for example for two or three years. They must respect some fundamentals so that it fits logistically, at the level of the land implantation, but also at the level of the nautical logistics to put the boats.
After that, it's the game of making up the courses and it's a big domino. We try to find space according to the geographical origin for the edition it requires. Discussions are held and solutions are found to postpone the next edition if this is not possible.
What is the interest for elles??
There is a cocktail of direct and indirect media and economic spin-offs. The cities, they seem, are getting their money's worth. The Tour Voile represents 150 accredited journalists from all over the Tour: national and local media, press, television, radio, etc.
For the public part, it is difficult to quantify, because it is an open event, without ticketing. Our barometer is the goodies distributed, and that gives about 2?000 people who pass through the Tour every day. All this being an average, which also depends on the dates.
Do you have difficulties in finding cities étapes??
Not from tout?! We have a strong demand to date as they extend to 2025. The route has already been finalised for the 2020 and 2021 editions. We do have many more requests than space on the course. It shows the attractiveness of the Tour and it wasn't always the case.
When we took over the Tour in 2012, we were running after the communities. Since the arrival of the Diam 24 in 2015 and the new shorter, more dynamic and attractive format, it is the opposite.
Are you limited to a number of cities étapes??
Yes, completely, it's related to the format. We are therefore limited to 7 stopover cities, since we like the 17-day format with 2 departure and arrival cities.
Is there a participation for the cities stages and combien??
It is 90?000 HT, but it is more naturally high for large departure and arrival cities. In return for this cash contribution and a technical and communication specifications, they can then claim to become a stage town.
