The organiser of the Tour de La Provence has insisted that the race will go forward from February 9-12, despite the fact that it was not initially included on the UCI calendar for 2023.
Additional considerations concerning the occasion’s monetary viability had been raised earlier this month when Marion Rousse resigned as joint race director, a task she had held since 2019.
Organiser Pierre-Maurice Courtade instructed AFP on Tuesday (opens in new tab) that the Tour de La Provence would go forward after receiving “a beneficial verdict from the French Biking Federation’s [FFC] fee of attraction.”
AFP experiences, nonetheless, that the inexperienced gentle from the FFC remains to be contingent on sure circumstances being met within the first half of January. Based on the information company, the Tour de La Provence should pay an excellent €16,000 to the Ligue Nationale de Cyclisme by January 15, whereas it should additionally current “a schedule validated and countersigned by the police and gendarmerie for the fee of sums owed for the years 2021 and 2022 of as much as €139,996.83.”
The Ligue Nationwide de Cyclisme queried the occasion’s funds within the Autumn, however the Tour de La Provence has since made its case to the French Nationwide Olympic and Sports activities Committee, and to the French Biking Federation.
The Tour de La Provence should now fulfill the UCI’s standards, with Courtade insisting that the ProSeries occasion could be formally added to the calendar within the first half of January. The Frenchman described occasions of current weeks as a “cleaning soap opera worthy of Dallas,” noting that the Tour de La Provence itself was not working at a loss.
“We have now different occasions which have made us lose some huge cash,” mentioned Courtade, whose Stay Fort Occasion firm took over organisation of the Tour de La Provence in 2020. Stay For Occasion additionally organises the Tour de Savoie Mont-Blanc, in addition to pétanque occasions.
Nairo Quintana received the 2022 Tour de La Provence forward of Julian Alaphilippe. The race has been held since 2016 and is a part of a collection of occasions within the south of France in February together with Étoile de Bessèges and the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Haut-Var.
