The grand finale for the Petit Départ

The best 76 cyclists from the children’s cycling competition will be competing on 1 July within the supporting programme of the Grand Départ     

The finalists of the Petit Départ series are looking forward to the highlight of the children’s cycling competition: within the supporting programme of the Grand Départ, the 76 best cyclists of the six preliminary competitions in the city zone of Düsseldorf will be competing before the professionals on the shortened route of the 1 stage of the Tour de France on 1 July. A French boy, the winner of a newspaper competition by the Tour organiser A.S.O., will also be taking part. The race is set to start at 12 am at the starting area of the time trials at the trade fair. There will then be a turning point in Rotterdamer Straße so that the children’s race ends after 2.5 kilometres at the finish line where the professionals also finish their race. There, the Mayor Thomas Geisel will welcome the finalists. The highlight will then be the group photo on the winners’ podium of the Tour de France. The sponsor of the Petit Départ is Harald Christ. Tomorrow, on Wednesday, 28 June, 20 Petit-Départ children will already be able to get up close to their “cycling heroes” at the children’s press conference in the media centre.

“As the host city of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, we want to promote the bicycle as a means of transport and, at the same time, to rouse enthusiasm for cycling, also and especially among children and young people. The Petit Départ series has been extremely well received and has proven an asset for the young cycling generation in Düsseldorf. In the supporting programme of the start of the Tour de France, the 76 finalists now have the chance to get right up close to the stars –  which is sure to be an amazing experience for all the children participating”, explained the Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel.

The preliminaries were held in Wersten (25 March), Lierenfeld (29 April), Oberkassel (6 May), Rath (14 May), Holthausen (20 May) and Stockum (10 June). In total, 450 children participated in the children’s cycling series Petit Départ. All the children received a medal and were equipped with an event T-shirt. The mayor Klaudia Zepuntke, whose son Ruben is a professional cyclist in the Sunweb team, carried out all the presentation ceremonies. The enthusiasm of all involved at the end of each competition was immense; also the volunteers, who accompanied the children throughout the competition as team leaders, were captivated by the mood and the enthusiasm of the kids.

The competition was intended to introduce children aged between 8 and 12 (born 2005 to 2008) to cycling as a sport in the run up to the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. The focus was on fun and exercise. In three disciplines - the time trial, the sprint test and the obstacle course - the participants were able to demonstrate their stamina, speed and skill. So that all the participants had the same odds, however, no racing bikes were allowed at the Petit Départ. What’s more, helmets were compulsory.

The host of the event series was the cycling club SG Radschläger Düsseldorf 1970 e.V., which organised the children’s cycling competitions in cooperation with the project office Grand Départ. Information on this is available in the Internet under: www.duesseldorf2017.de/petitdepart

The following children will be taking part in the finals of the Petit Départ:
Olivia Pompa, Luisa Delgado Cruz, Olivia Burda, Ole Palm, Vincent Marzen, Robert Wiebel, Rose McCullim, Jannik Eglinski, Mathilde Kellner, Felix Reinkemeier, Sho Watanabe, Lilian Schwehn, Alexandre Delannoy, Frieda Heering, Marc Andre Hölscher, Ruveyda Bostan, Alina Yefimova, Johanna Gröne, Haoming Xu, Ayoub Jabri, Salahaddin Kabli, Louis Nakajima, Finn Erdmann, Mona Schmale, Marieke Klaus, Falk Binder, Emil Traxler, Clara Pauls, Alina Pins, Konstantin Paschos, Liam Brendt, Romy Armbruster, Timo André Coudurier, Emilia Zielinski, Paulina Bachmann, Diana Schattschneider, Daphne Lingens, Florian Rexha, Alexa Beketow, Vivien Russ, Jonas Maltzan, Seraina Dittli, Florian Faust, Emil Meins, Quirin Pauleit, Austin Carter, Niclas Kruse, Franziska Lösch, Niklas Lösch, Rene Schöneseiffer, Henrik Kalkbrenner, Danny Fischer, Eva Michkouskaya, Imke Ramaker, Ronja Schäfers, David Noe, Jonathan Markin, Jan Philipp Dunger, Laura Lilly Laas, Leonie Alscher, Dimitra
Kyriakos, Anna Maschitzki, Aaron Vauth, Fiona Bünder, Katharina Herfen, Lennart Abeln, Lennox Muth, Max Kowalski, Kim Kowalski, Alma Liedtke, Celine Marie Wulff, Lennard Rolschorph, Mika Reich, Hillary Bushiza, Lara Binder and Lilo Prinz.

The Special Petit Départ was also a great success
Around 170 pupils of the special-needs schools in Düsseldorf, Mettmann, Erkrath and Ratingen celebrated “their” Tour start on 31 May in the stadium Rather Waldstadion in the state capital. There, the Special Petit Départ for children with disabilities took place based on the Petit Départ.

In the stadium Rather Waldstadion, pupils not only joined the race with bicycles, but also with e-wheelchairs, wheelchairs and tandems. The state association Special Olympics NRW made three motivity stations available, which were used to convey the pleasure of physical exercise and the sensory experiences of your own body. Also at the Special Petit Départ, all the participants received an event shirt and a medal.

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Tour Director Christian Prudhomme (l.) and Mayor Thomas Geisel fired the starting shot for the start of the Petit Départ series on 25 March at the university sports grounds in Wersten , ©Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf/Ingo Lammert www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/pressebilder/170325PetitDepart 1.jpg

Children wait at the starting line for their turn in the time trials, ©Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf/Ingo Lammert www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/pressebilder/170325PetitDepart 2.jpg

A child in the sprint test within the framework of the Petit Départ, ©Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf/Ingo Lammert www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/pressebilder/170325PetitDepart 3.jpg

At the Petit Départ, an obstacle course also had to be completed, ©Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf/Ingo Lammert www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/pressebilder/170325PetitDepart 6.jpg