Any sport that takes place in public places can cost much to the local authorities. Imagine what the London Marathon must cost: roads closed; barriers erected; police presence; potholes filled, material hired; overtime paid; etc.
So multiply that by about 30 for towns that welcome the Tour as a point of departure or arrival. About 4500 personnel accompany the Tour, including riders, team support and journalists. The arrival points can be especially difficult, to allow for up to 200 bicycles arriving at speed, with motor bikes and cars in close proximity and hundreds or thousands of spectators lining the roads. Communes bidding to host the Tour must make the roads safe, including improving visibility, removing obstacles, erecting barriers and providing electricity, water and where needed accommodation. Tour organisers are very strict about their needs, the "cahier de charges" running to hundreds of pages (the summary is 40 pages). Some cities refuse to bid as their town centres are too medieval and who wants to finish a stage in a "zone commercial"?
Tour organisers claim that towns with stage finishes, such as Rodez yesterday (Friday 17th July), can recoup costs up to six times, but Pau, a popular and frequent destination, reckons that only about 1.5 times the cost will be covered, and that is for a town well used to welcoming the Tour. Grenoble, almost always a starting point for the Alpine stages, is set to try and spread the cost among its 49 neighbouring communes.
Beaune, on the other hand, never bids for a stage finish, but a spokesman said that its hotels benefitted from the Tour as it hosted the hundreds of workers brought in to prepare the mountain stages.
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