SMILING I N ADVERSITY

Even before the Nice terrorist attack on Bastille Day, no one could have failed to notice the heavy police presence or slight edginess at last year’s Tour. In the months prior to the race, the French intelligence services had reportedly received notice of specific threats against major events like the European football championships and the Tour. To this was added a sudden appreciation of how exposed the Tour route could be - with its free roadside access and daily attendance of up to a million. A year on, France is still on its maximum level of security alert, an inflammatory general election took place in May, and the Tour is readying itself for another tense journey. Prudhomme’s favourite and most frequent sales pitch is that the Tour is “3500km of smiles”. Never more than now has he hoped the Tour can retain – or regain – its carefree disposition.