It's the people's event and they're not about to let it die. It's as much a pillar of a French July as Bastille Day and traffic jams. All over France hundreds of tractors using thousands of litres of EC-subsidised diesel have been used to move hay bales into letters to read 'vive le tour'.
The event whose origins have always been 100% commercial is ironically the only one whose democracy and accessibility is second to none. It's the event that reverses the usual pattern - it visits its fans rather than the other way around. Much is made of the enormous numbers of people who crowd the side of the road but they haven't come far, an average of 107 kilometres according to Tour director Christian Proudhomme.
The the Tour is the Chemin St. Jacques for the masses and the ritualistic aspects are too strong - painting the road, banners, broom wagons, the macabre caravanne publicitaire, frantic mountain stage fans - even the Devil makes an appearance.
No, the Tour is not dead or dying, on the contrary it's in the rudest of health.
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