Toespraak door Jan van Zanen bij het diner voorafgaand aan de Tour de France Femmes, 11 augustus 2024

 

Goedenavond allemaal.

Good evening everyone.

 

Bienvenue à toutes et tous.

Et tout particulièrement à Aurore et Jean-Etienne Amaury.

Mais aussi bien sûr à Marion Rousse, Christian Prudhomme, Cyrille Tricart et toutes les autres personnes d’Amaury Sport Organisation présentes aujourd’hui.

Si vous me le permettez, je poursuivrai maintenant en anglais.

 

Dordrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague are on the eve of an historic event.

For the very first time, the Tour de France Femmes is being hosted in our cities.

Tomorrow, the first stage will start here in Rotterdam on its way to The Hague.

And on 13 August, the second stage from Dordrecht to Rotterdam and an individual time trial in Rotterdam will be held on the same day.

This Grand Depart could not have happened without the united cooperation between our three cities and the Amaury Sport Organisation.

So a very special thanks to my counterparts Wouter Kolff from Dordrecht and Ahmed Aboutaleb from Rotterdam, who cannot be here this evening.

Also, many thanks to the deputy mayors of Sports:

Hilbert Bredemeijer (The Hague), Marc Merx (Dordrecht) and Faouzi Achbar (Rotterdam).

Faouzi Achbar is absent and is represented by deputy mayor Natasha Mohamed-Hoesein.

It’s wonderful to see how our cities have done everything they can to make this great cycling event possible.

Dordrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague, as well as many of the municipalities visited by the Tour, are coloured yellow.

Everyone has worked hard to get the public excited about the Tour’s arrival and to fuel cycling fever.

That has included organising numerous activities to introduce them to cycling.

And that’s been successful.

Lots of people, young and old, attended the activities and were inspired to get moving.

Not just to play sports, but also in everyday life.

Obviously on their bikes, if possible.

Because the Tour de France Femmes is not just about high level sport.

The Tour also promotes inclusive sport, a sport that connects and activates people.

Hopefully, the yellow, green and polka dot jersey will be a source of inspiration for women and girls.

An encouragement to stand up for themselves and take their rightful place.

An inspiring example for us all is Sifran Hassan, who just won the Olympic marathon.

 

Allons enfants de la cyclisme, allons soeurs de la cyclisme, le jour de gloire est arrivé…

 

As I said, we are witnessing a unique event this week.

This is the first time that the Tour de France Femmes is starting outside France.

I am proud that tomorrow, the first yellow jersey will be awarded in The Hague, in our international sports city by the sea.

In 1973, our own cycling legend Joop Zoetemelk won the yellow jersey on the Scheveningen boulevard.

Joop will be here this year too, although this time presenting one of the prizes.

Enjoy your evening and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the start of Tour de France Femmes 2024.