In Toulouse, the district of Bagatelle will (finally) be entitled to the Great Loop

The Toulouse-based young people of Média-Pitchounes have been following each Tour de France since 2010, via a magazine and a daily program broadcast on the Internet. In 2019, it is the biggest cycling race in the world that will come to them. The kids of the badociation born in the popular district of Bagatelle have finally seen the project
"The Tour at the foot of the Towers" succeed. Or almost.

On July 18, the day after arriving in the city center, in the district of Compans-Caffarelli, the twelfth stage will leave the Stadium, a few hundred meters from Bagatelle, to reach Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 202 km more far.

"We are happy, says Laurent Girard, the founder-coordinator of Media-Pitchounes. If there is a departure in Toulouse, it is thanks to the "Tour at the foot of the Towers". The mayor has applied, and the company ASO [organisatrice de l’épreuve] the offer, in quotation marks, to our badociation. "

#Proud duty #Toulouse appear on the map of the # TDF2019, at the end of this presentation of @ChPrudhomme shared with @MPitchounes and @LArribage. A great festive and convivial moment is announced in July 2019 pic.twitter.com/3BTXMpcFsi

– Jean-Luc Moudenc (@jlmoudenc) October 25, 2018

Of course, the ideal, defended since the genesis of the project seven years ago, would have been for the platoon to leap from the heart of a working clbad neighborhood. Never seen since the creation of the venerable race, in 1903. "But we made a reason, says Laurent Girard. A guy from ASO came to Bagatelle three times. There is not enough room to accommodate all the vehicles and the crowds that the event generates. "

Hayet, 16, agrees. She is one of four teenagers of the badociation to have made the trip with the coordinator in Paris this Thursday, for the presentation of the route.

The first goal was the start in Bagatelle, but we remain satisfied. For having covered four times the Tour de France, I know it's a big machine, which takes up a lot of space. And I'm glad my family, friends and neighbors can see the cyclists and the caravan pbad by their homes, sometimes even from their windows. It was one of the goals. "

"This is the first time I hear about the Grand Mirail in a presentation of the Tour, fun Laurent Girard. Normally, the peloton must leave the Stadium by Empalot, Bagatelle, then La Reynerie and Bellefontaine. "

A long work of lobbying with mayors and presidents of the Republic

The lobbying led for years with successive mayors of Toulouse, Pierre Cohen (PS) and Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR), but also presidents
François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, so paid. Even though the final decision went to ASO and its president.

Toulouse city stage for the Tour de France 2019! #Toulouse #Trifle pic.twitter.com/q0o2DEiohb

– Pitchounes Media (@MPitchounes) October 25, 2018

"Last year, Christian Prudhomme told us:" I'm going to give you a nice gift for ten years [Médias-Pitchounes suit le cyclisme depuis le Tour méditerranéen en 2009]", reveals the founder, everything will be fine, we will show that it is good to live in neighborhoods, there is a negative 10% for 90% positive, but we only show the 10%."

And now ? Well, we continue, say the members of the badociation. "If the departure is not possible from Bagatelle, it may be in other cities," says Hayet, one of 152 young people to have covered the Great Loop thanks to Media-Pitchounes, who is destined to a career of journalist.

A winner from a popular neighborhood "ten or twenty years from now"?

"Why not give pride of place to a neighborhood at each edition," continues Laurent Girard. Neighborhoods are part of the cities, do not exclude them. This would also allow cycling to establish itself in areas where there is still a marginal sport. More for a very long time, according to the founder of the Bagatelle badociation: "In ten or twenty years, it's a neighborhood guy who will win the Tour de France. "