Press centre and volunteer centre of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf opened

Only one more day until the Grand Départ Düsseldorf 2017 with the official team presentation on Burgplatz in Düsseldorf (29 June to 2 July). The Tour de France organiser A.S.O. has now moved into his quarters at the Düsseldorf trade fair.

This afternoon, the Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel and Tour Director Christian Prudhomme opened the "Permanence" and the press centre of the Grand Départ in style. The two Grand Départ officials rode on racing bikes through the tape with the logos of the Tour and the Grand Départ. Both the "Permanence", the home of Tour organiser A.S.O., and the press centre, were thus officially opened. On the ensuing round, alongside the municipalities of the region which presented themselves - Korschenbroich, Mettmann, Mönchengladbach, Ratingen - Lord Mayor Geisel and Christian Prudhomme also greeted the French region Vendée, the host of the Grand Départ 2018. The press centre is now open daily from 9am to 10pm for the roughly 2,000 accredited journalists. In addition to the press conferences of several teams, on Friday the state capital of Düsseldorf will also present itself here to the international press.

The press centre already had its first important appointment on Wednesday, 28 June. The little fans "drilled" some of the great names in cycling: in the Salle de Interview at the town hall, the kids had the first word at the children's press conference on the occasion of the Grand Départ Düsseldorf 2017. The top German cyclists André Greipel, Marcel Kittel, Nikias Arndt and Simon Geschke were impressed by the curiosity of the 30 children and gave plenty of answers.

The questions were generally of a sporting nature. Since when do the cyclists not have to buy their own bicycles? What do the cyclists eat? And are there also vegetarian racing cyclists? What do they most like to do when they have finished a Tour de France stage? How fast can they ride and can they sleep well after a race day? How many hours do they sleep per night during the Tour? The 20 finalists of the children's cycling competition Petit Départ who were present and the ten pupils of the Lycée français de Düsseldorf wanted to know practically everything from the German cycling stars.

The children's press conference was also covered by a team of the ZDF children's news programme "LOGO". At any rate, the German racing cyclists have passed their first baptism of fire of the Tour de France 2017 with the "cross-examination" of the kids. In the finals of the children's cycling competition, on Saturday, 1 July at 12 am, the Petit Départ kids will be racing on the Tour route before the time trials of the professionals.

2500 volunteers receive "Tour Maker" packages
The volunteer centre also opened today, Wednesday, 28 June. In the coming days of the Grand Départ, the athletics hall in the Arena Sportpark will be the contact point for the roughly 2,500 volunteers. At the centre, all the helpers also receive their personal "Tour Maker" package. The package consists of a polo shirt, baseball cap, rain jacket, provisions and information material on the Grand Départ. On the opening day, the first volunteers already took the opportunity to collect their "Tour Maker" package. With the "Tour Maker" package, every individual has the unique experience and memory of having been part of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf 2017.

All the press releases on the Grand Départ Düsseldorf 2017:
www.duesseldorf.de/letour/medienportal/alle-meldungen.html

Photos and event maps for editorial reporting are available here:
www.duesseldorf.de/letour/medienportal/bildarchiv.html

Programme:
www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/grand_depart/pdf/GD17_Tourguide_D_Online.pdf

Press releases of A.S.O. are also available at:
www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/us/press-release.html Photos and videos: www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/us/gallery.html