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The Tour's new boss: A conversation with Christian Prudhomme

By Jean -François Quenet
Published: Jul. 4, 2007
Prudhomme continues the tradition of former journalists running the world's biggest bike race.
Prudhomme continues the tradition of former journalists running the world's biggest bike race.
Photo: Getty Images

Longtime race director Jean-Marie Leblanc has finally retired, leaving Christian Prudhomme in charge of the Tour de France. The 2007 edition starts in London on Saturday, and with no clear favorite, it is shaping up to be one of the most open races in years.

Lance Armstrong, who won seven straight Tours beginning in 1999, has retired. Last year's winner, Floyd Landis, is still under the cloud of doping accusations. Other big names, such as Ivan Basso, have fallen afoul of the crackdown on drugs in the sport.

But Prudhomme insists that other stars will emerge to take their places.

"It's the Tour itself that throws up its own heroes," he said. "I am convinced that new ones will emerge this year. I long to see drama and surprises ... new faces coming through. We need a breath of fresh air and a fresh start for the Tour."

The new boss recently spoke with VeloNews about the greatest bike race in the world.

VeloNews: You’ve been left a nice gift with the Tour starting in London.

Christian Prudhomme: In fact, I think Jean-Marie Leblanc left me two gifts: a Grand Départ last year in Strasbourg, my mother’s hometown, and this year in London, one of the world’s most dynamic cities. I also feel that London is giving its wonderful monuments to the Tour de France, like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, plus Trafalgar Square as the venue for the Friday night team presentation. Starting in London is also a means for the Tour to talk to English, American and Australian cycling enthusiasts, who have so enriched the race over the past 20 years.

VN: Short of the Tour starting in North America, what complications will there be starting in London?

CP: Fewer complications than there were starting in Dublin in 1998. For the riders, it will be quite simple. After showering in Canterbury [after stage 1] they’ll travel in their team buses and take the train “shuttle” through the Channel Tunnel. They should be at the hotels in France by 8:30 p.m.

VN: What do you say to those who criticize you for starting the Tour overseas?

CP: I remind them that the Tour de France is in very high demand abroad. The first start outside our borders was more than 50 years ago. And the list of major cities wanting to host the start just keeps growing. We had to turn down Herning in Denmark, but there are many other outstanding candidates including Rotterdam and Utrecht in The Netherlands, the provinces of Liège and Flanders in Belgium, Düsseldorf in Germany, Lugano in Switzerland, Florence in Italy, the Spanish Basque Country, Monaco, and most recently, Budapest, the capital of Hungary. There have also been approaches from Estonia and Qatar. Of the 220 ongoing candidates to host a stage, 50 are from overseas.

VN: What role do you think the Tour plays in the development of world cycling?

CP: It plays a huge role. It’s televised in 185 countries — the last country to have bought broadcast rights is Azerbaijan. The whole world watches the Tour de France. Last year, the Tour was even shown on a jumbo screen in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

VN: And television is in your background. The Tour was created and then run by journalists, so it seems logical that a TV guy has succeeded a newspaper journalist as race director.

CP: I see myself first of all as coming from radio. I studied at the journalism school in Lille to become a journalist, not a TV commentator.

But before that, when I was young, it was listening to the French radio commentary of the last 100km of each Tour stage that hooked me on cycling and led me into commentating the Tour. As for running the race, I never thought about it until Jean-Marie Leblanc told me at the Grand Prix de Denain in 2001 that he could see me as his successor, but added, “We’ve already got someone who could be good.”

Then, in Compiègne the day before Paris-Roubaix in April 2003, he pulled me aside and told me, “Daniel Baal [the designateddirector] isn’t staying with us. Do you want to come?” I said, yes, right away! I would never have left my career as a journalistfor anything other than being director of the Tour because, rightly, it has always been run by journalists.

VN: At the end of your first Tour in charge last year, you said that the banner you noticed the most was Vive le Tour.

CP: It was even more apt last year because the race was missing some top names. But have you ever noticed banners saying “Long live the Olympic Games” or “Long live the World Cup”? In other sports, we encourage champions, teams or countries. Vive le Tour shows our event has solid roots.

Agence France Presse contributed to this article.