Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme has commented on Thursday’s news that the Spanish city Barcelona is bidding to host the start of the 2014 Tour de France, saying that it is a strong candidate.
“You think of sports when you talk of Barcelona. It is a city where you can breathe, its candidacy is excellent,” he said, according to Marca.
The Frenchman was in the city on Thursday in order to be officially presented with the bid. He met with the Mayor of Barcelona Jordi Hereu and others, and recollected the last time the race visited there, namely in 2009.
“The stage to Barcelona reminded us of the depart in London,” he said, referring to the atmosphere. “The city was full of happiness, because here in addition to the presence of people on the street, the balconies were full of people applauding.”
The stage was marked by a long solo effort by David Millar which was gobbled up just minutes from the finish on Montjuic Hill, plus the victory by the current world road race champion Thor Hushovd (now with Garmin-Cervélo).
It has hosted the race three times, but this would be the first occasion when it would be the overall start location. Several other strong bids have been made, including efforts to secure the start by Scotland, the city of Florence and the Liguria region (Italy), the city of Salzburg and Tyrol (Austria), Utrecht (Netherlands) and Kraków (Poland).
This year’s race begins in the Vendée region of France. Liège will host the Grand Départ in 2012, while Corsica is pushing to host the race in 2013.
Prudhomme stressed that while Spain’s most famous rider is facing the risk of being suspended for a Clenbuterol positive, that the question mark hanging over Alberto Contador doesn’t threaten the bid.
“A city should not pay for the errors of a rider. We should not link these issues with Barcelona’s candidacy,” he said.
A decision in that case is expected very soon.