The “Tour de France Cycle City” title honours local governments that have pledged to promote bicycle use. In 2022, 28 towns and cities made their first submissions, while six of the 80 towns and cities that received the label in 2021 renewed their bids. These towns and cities from France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Luxembourg have all met the evaluation requirements and received a degree of certification in accordance with the projects included in the jury’s entries.
The label honours the entire cycling promotion policy implemented in the area in question, whether as a daily mode of transportation, leisure pursuits, or competitive sport. It is open to all municipal authorities that have welcomed the Tour de France or the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift at least once.
Towns are being labelled for 2022 at the same time as the “Cycling in May” campaign, which is currently in full gear. This programme promotes cities in France that are taking part in bike-friendly initiatives.
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France Director:
“This second edition is a reminder of the Tour de France’s commitment, alongside all local authorities, to promote cycling. The Tour de France, through its program “Riding into the Future”, is committed to building a world that is more and more bikeable. 108 municipalities are now certified “Tour de France Cycle City”, a sign that this approach meets a need for communities, who wish to commit to bicycle mobility.”
Olivier Schneider, chairman of the French Federation for Users of Bicycles (FUB):
“The success of this year’s event shows that a label like this one was really needed. Indeed, its impact goes far beyond a sign at the entrance to a city, since a simple reading of the evaluation criteria serves as inspiration, and even as a mirror, for communities wishing to develop all bicycle usage. If cycling is to change our cities and our lives, we must encourage openness and accessibility between the various uses and practices of bicycles. If we like the Tour, we want to be able to travel by bike, and the questions raised by this label will help guide cities in creating the conditions to do so safely and serenely.”
Emilie Defay, assistant editor at France Bleu Paris:
“This year again we have seen the efforts of all the candidate cities, large and small, to develop cycling. And the Tour de France is a great incentive for the cycling festival to last not just one day when the Tour passes through, but all year round for everyday cyclists.”
Jean Ghedira, LCL communication, sponsoring and administration director:
“LCL has been a partner of the Tour de France for over 40 years and is the bank for soft mobility and all cyclists. LCL is helping to make cycling safer and more comfortable. The “Tour de France Cycle City” label rewards the efforts made by various cities and allows us to share good initiatives.”
All 34 cities that have been designated as “Tour de France Cycle Cities” have been greeted with congratulations and support. The cities applying have underscored their reason in their submissions by emphasising their commitment to building bicycle infrastructure and enhancing cyclist safety. These municipalities have also presented concrete actions aimed at promoting recreational cycling and cycling as a sport (infrastructure deployment, cyclist safety improvements, learning with the “how to ride a bicycle” programme, parking and theft prevention, maintenance and repair, promotional tools, and so on). This year, the Tour de France (16) and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (7) had 22 candidate towns and cities on their routes, with Paris being the most prevalent.
Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris, and Valkenburg (Netherlands) are featured prominently in the 2022 edition, as three cities that have earned the 4-bike rating for exceptional bicycle promotion in all forms. The proposed evaluation criteria aim to analyze the dynamics implemented in towns rather than, for example, the existing number of infrastructures. Eleven towns with populations of less than 10,000 people, eight medium-sized towns, and fifteen cities with populations surpassing 50,000 people are also honored on the 2022 list. Such diversity necessitates decision-making that takes into account the unique characteristics of each of these territories.
The number of “Tour de France Cycle City” recognized communities has increased to 108 with this second labelling campaign, and more than 7 million people now directly benefit from the solutions adopted by the towns and cities that have received this distinction.
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