With a gesture, Stephanie unfastens the belt that had kept her hanging from the roof of her tank for hours. Cap pulled down to the ears and parka on the back to fight against the wind, the young woman jumps to the ground, followed by Tom, her teammate. Around them, other vehicles in the colors of the Leclerc sign park quickly, depositing their occupants on the side of the road. “Technical break!” warn the caravanners, who, in five hours of stage, will only be entitled to a single “pee stop” of two minutes. Some disappear in seconds in the wild, while others directly negotiate the toilets of the inhabitants in exchange for a few “goodies”, these small gifts distributed along the roads by the Leclerc group, a major partner of the cycle race. “They welcome us with a good heart. That’s also the Tour”, slips an organizer laughing.
The 2021 Grande Boucle sponsor team members know they have no time to lose. “Because, afterwards, we have to go up the whole caravan to recover our place in the procession”, explains Caroline, driver of a light vehicle sponsored by the retail brand. On the roof of the car, her colleague Manon attaches herself to the seat from where she has been throwing out samples of organic biscuits since the start of the morning. “She’s going to have to hang on,” slips the pilot, accelerating. For long minutes, armed with a headset that connects her to the brand’s 10 other vehicles, Caroline does a series of slaloms and accelerations to regain her position in the convoy, which has already progressed by several kilometres. “It’s crazy, the lead they can take on us in a few seconds,” she comments, concentrated.
One of the floats of the Leclerc caravan, in the start village of Lorient, during the third stage of the Tour de France 2021.
THE EXPRESS
After fifteen minutes of frantic racing, she finally sees the huge opening float of the Leclerc caravan, the quads in the shape of melon or strawberry and the trucks surmounted by a giant picnic decoration on which are installed the hosts and hostesses of the sign. “It’s good, I can finally breathe,” she whispers, half-amused, half-stressed. Behind her, Tom and Stéphanie’s float kept pace as best they could, tossing the two animators on its roof. “I took advantage of this ascent to take my lunch break, with a piece of salad flying away and my hood falling over my eyes”, said Tom during the evening meal, mimicking the scene, causing hilarity general.
“And this jersey, who is it going to go to?”
All day, this 25-year-old comedian held firm, standing balanced on one of the caravan’s four floats. With impressive energy, the young Parisian animated the 182 kilometers that separated the towns of Lorient and Pontivy, in Morbihan. His mission ? Motivate the thousands of spectators gathered along the roads of Brittany to watch the third stage of the race, while distributing part of the million samples of food products that will be offered during the Tour. “Hello to all the people of Lorient who have joined us for this stage! Direction, Pontivy, let’s go!” he shouted at 11 a.m. on the starting line.
Around him, the spectators are delighted. “Thank you !” scream some upon receiving a sample of biscuit. “Here, here!” claim others by proudly displaying their Leclerc t-shirts. Sometimes an accessory pleases more than others. “The polka dot jersey and the flags drive them crazy,” says Tom, amused. “And this jersey, who is it going to go to?” he asks, spinning it in the air, before throwing it into the crowd. Neither the wind nor the rain seem to disturb the animator.
With an implacable repartee, he has fun bouncing on each supporter’s disguise, gratifying the little ones with a warm “hello, good man”, greeting the shy pensioners taking refuge on their balcony. “Nice butt!” the actor even dares in front of a not very modest spectator, before singing a very personal version of “I hear the wolf, the fox and the weasel…”, echoed in chorus by the crowd. “I don’t know where she came from, that one,” he confided the same evening, laughing.
“You want to start over every year”
After three days of stage, Tom has energy to spare. However, the rhythm of the caravaneers is intense: the days begin well before the arrival of the peloton with fanfare on the starting line, and end well after the last gift thrown. From 8:30 am, the members of the Leclerc team thus find themselves out of sight, in the “technical parking lot” of the caravan, in order to clean every square centimeter of their vehicles and to check their stocks. The playful pre-race choreography, the exchanges of giveaways between different brands and the coffee shared with the teammates will not take place until a few minutes later, in another car park to which the guests of the sponsors will have access in particular.
“You dance, you sing, you laugh. You feel alive!”
THE EXPRESS
Often tired, the participants nevertheless get used to the schedules imposed by the Tour – six days of work per week, 7000 kilometers swallowed in less than a month and 21 stages throughout France. “The first few days, I saw people crying with joy along the nationals. It gave me chills, that’s what you hold on to, says Caroline. The love you receive and the happiness you you give are so strong that the days go by at 1000 miles an hour.” While some stages are tough, others allow participants to live an extraordinary experience. “There were days when I found myself standing on the tank, in full sun, with magnificent landscapes in front of my eyes and hundreds of happy people around me, remembers Tom, who begins his third Tour. And, there, you take full advantage. You dance, you sing, you laugh. You feel alive!”
The caravanners all agree. “Once you have tasted the atmosphere of the Tour de France, you want to do it again every year”, assures Manon. To take part in the adventure, this young speech therapist from Brussels has decided to put her patients’ rare summer appointments on hold for three weeks. The Tour, which was initially just a simple student job, has become the unmissable event of his summers. “I find friends, I discover magnificent places, I live a unique experience”, she argues. Sometimes, some loved ones wonder. “I am asked why I continue. But why would I stop?” she lets go. Paid “a little more than the minimum wage”, according to the organizers, housed and fed for three and a half weeks, the young woman finds herself there.
One successful candidate out of 1000
Like her, many caravanners organize their year around the Tour. Director of a theater company, firefighter, Smur paramedic, heavy goods vehicle driving trainer... The profiles of the 24 hosts, drivers or facilitators of Leclerc vehicles are varied. Some are road professionals. School bus driver, Elvis begins his 16th Tour de France. “I didn’t miss a single one,” he says proudly. Even the Covid will not have been right about its participation in the race: the caravan did parade in front of the French last year, in September. “We had masks and gloves that were fraying from distributing the giveaways, but we were there”, remembers Manon. Since the health crisis, a few rules have nevertheless changed: caravanners now always sleep with the same pair, and the mask is compulsory throughout the course. “But the spirit of the Tour, him , remains the same”, guarantees the young woman.
So much so that, to be part of the event, some team members have canceled important personal appointments. “I postponed my internship defense to be here,” says Caroline, also a recently graduated speech therapist. Clément, a 23-year-old physiotherapist, skipped his graduation in early July. “All my friends are going to celebrate it as it should be … And I’m going to miss the evening. But I quickly made my decision, I prefer to be at the Tour”, he explains. The young man has the Grande Boucle in his blood: his parents met on the race caravan in 1990. “At the time, the rooms were still mixed… And that’s what happened”, jokes he.
Getting serious, he insists: “I know I’m very lucky to be here, so I’m making the most of it.” Within the Leclerc caravan, places are expensive. “We retain about 1 application out of 1000, we confirm on the side of the organizers. We take the most motivated, those whose character corresponds to the values of the race.” Because, once on board, there is no question of confusing the Tour with a summer camp.
“The friendships you make are a power of 1000”
“One beer, no more!” thus promises Manon, on the return from the Lorient-Pontivy stage. Seated in the hotel restaurant, the young woman is categorical. “Contrary to what people might imagine, there are no sleepless nights or big drunken parties at the Tour de France.” With several thousand spectators on the roadside, there is no room for “excess glass”. Every morning, caravanners can be checked by the organization to check their blood alcohol level. And if it is greater than 0: “It’s directly ‘BTM’ [‘bagages, train, maison’], loose Tom. There is no possible justification, no ‘please, that was the last time’… That’s ciao!”
“Here, the friendships you make, it’s 1000 power. You have to live it to understand.”
THE EXPRESS
On this evening of Monday June 28, the members of the Leclerc team will therefore be satisfied with a drink or two in front of a Euro match broadcast on the giant screen of the restaurant. “Anyway, we’re so exhausted that we only dream of going to sleep,” says Manon, exhausted. Before going to his room, the speech therapist takes the time to greet several members of the team, laughs a few minutes with each one. Three days ago, she didn’t know some of them. “Here, the friendships you make are 1000 times the power. You have to live it to understand,” she says before slipping away to finally rest. “You literally end up on your knees, but it’s worth it.” Tomorrow, her alarm clock will ring at 7 a.m., and she will be on the road again. A stage of 150 kilometers awaits him.