GALA TOUR de FRANCE 2004

9^th edition of the cycling criterium «Gala Tour de France» :

A touch of Tour de France in the streets of Luxembourg on Sunday, September 2004!

For the ninth year, the cycling club ACC Contern will organize his international criterium « Gala Tour de France  - Grand Prix de la Ville de Luxembourg ». It will take place on Sunday, September 19, 2004 in Luxemburg near the station, on a course of 950 m around Avenue de la Liberté and boulevard de la Pétrusse, with start and finish in front of the ARBED-ARCELOR building at the Place des Martyrs („Rousegaertchen“).

For the first time, this event for professional cyclists will be run in form of an OMNIUM with 4 distinct races and the total of the results of each race will determine the overall winner. The Omnium consists of :

- An individual time-trial over one lap at the beginning,

- Than an elimination event of 20 laps, where the last rider on each passage over the finish line will have to quit the race;

- A points race of 20 laps, with points distributed to the sprinters on several occasions and finally,

- A classic road race over 25 laps, the Grand Prix de la Ville de Luxembourg !

Since the first edition of the Gala Tour de France in 1996, some famous riders have joined the palmares, with victories of Bjarne Riis (1996), Johann Museeuw (1997), Marco Pantani (1998), Richard Virenque (1999), Viatcheslaw Ekimov (2001), Laurent Jalabert (2000/2002) and Alexander Vinokourov in 2003.

Thomas Voeckler and Viatcheslav Ekimov are the stars of the event !

Thomas Voeckler and Viatcheslaw Ekimov are the two first international stars that have confirmed ther participation at this year’s Gala Tour de France. Thomas Voeckler, Winner of the Tour de Luxembourg 2003 and French National Champion 2004, is very popular in France since he wore the yellow jersey for 10 days, from Chartres to Villard-de-Lans in the last Tour! He showed a lot of fighting spirit and rode himself into the heart of the (female) spectators during these two weeks.

Viatcheslav Ekimov has finished in July his 14th Tour de France in 15 years, only in 1999 was he absent! During these 14 participations, he won 3 stages, 1991 in Mâcon with a solo ride and then 2003 and 2004 the team-time-trial with US Postal. Ekimov was winner of the Gala Tour de France in Luxembourg in 2001, as well as Olympic champion in Sidney and second in Athens in the time-trial.

Kim Kirchen will line up !

In Absence of Benoît Joachim and Frank Schleck, who are at the Vuelta of Espana, Luxemburgish camp Kim Kirchen will be the domestic star. He has shown himself at his advantage recently at the Olympic Games (6th place) and the Tour de France (2^nd place in the stage of Quimper, 5th in Wasquehal and 8^th in St. Flour) and has won a stage of the Tour de Luxembourg this year. Other of his victories are Paris-Brussels in 2003 and the Ronde van Netherlands in 2002.

Ljungqvist, Montfort, Dierckxsens, Mengin, Durand, Iwanov, and many more …..

Thomas Voeckler will not be the only former winner of the Tour de Luxembourg at the start of the Gala Tour de France this year. Swedish rider Marcus Ljungqvist, winner of the national Tour in 2002 will be present with two of his team-mates from Alessio-Bianchi, Mikael Skelde and René Joergensen.

Young Belgian talent Maxime Montfort, surprising winner as a neo-pro of this year’s Tour of Luxembourg, will also line up at the Gala Tour de France together with two famous team-mates from the Landbouwkrediet team. The never tiring Ludo Dierckxsens had his moment of glory in the Tour de France of 1999 where he won the 11th stage from l’Alpe d’Huez to St. Etienne with the Belgian National champion’s jersey on his shoulders. Jacky Durand is another rider who has already been in Luxembourg for several times, and his aggressive racing is always appreciated. Winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1992, National French champion in 1993 and 1994, Jacky Durand took the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 1995 after having won the prologue in St. Brieuc. He is well-known for animating long breaks and his early attacks brought him among other things two more stage victories in the Tour de France (1994 in Cahors and 1998 in Montauban) and two nominations for the most agressive rider of the French Tour (1998 and 1999)!

Christophe Mengin from the FdJeux.com team of Marc Madiot will come along to honour the jersey of the King of the Mountains, which he had on his shoulders during several days in 2002 and 2003. But his best moment in the Tour should be his victory on the stage which finished in Freiburg in Switzerland in 1997.

The T-Mobile team will be represented in Luxembourg by Sergei Iwanov, several times Russian champion and winner of a stage in the Tour de France 1998 finishing at the Lac du Bourget in Aix-les-Bains.

Other riders will be the promising German rider Daniel Becke ( Iles Balears), his land-mates Klaus Mutschler, Andreas Schulze and Sven Bauer, Belgian Sébastien Matozza, the French Damien Nazon and Damien Pommereau as well as another Swedish rider, Stefan Adamsson, 4^th in the Grand Prix des Formies a week ago.

More events on that day: cyclosport-race Charly GAUL, Grand Prix François Faber, Luxembourg City Inline - Skate Event and 2^nd City on Wheels – semi-marathon!

Like in the years before, the organizers ACC Contern and the Municipality of Luxembourg have planned a large program around the main race:

The circuit of the Gala Tour de France (av. de la Liberté / bd. de la Pétrusse) will be open during the morning between 10.00 and 12.00 o’clock to all the fans of « Inline Skating » and « Rollerblades », an event supported by the campaign SPORT POUR TOUS of the municipality of Luxembourg. But already earlier, at 8.45 o’clock in the morning, several hundred amateurs of cycling should have taken the start of the traditional cyclosport-race Charly GAUL towards the eastern part of the country and back. More than 700 participants are expected for that unique race in Luxembourg.

From 12.05 to 13.15 o’clock, we will have the « 2^nd City on Wheels » semi-marathon of the town of Luxembourg on the closed circuit of the Gala Tour de France whereas the first contenders are awaited at the finish line of the « Charly Gaul », in rue Zithe ! The 80th Grand Prix François Faber, regional race for junior, U23 and elite riders will take place as prologue to the Gala Tour de France 2004 – Grand Prix de la Ville de Luxembourg which will begin at 15.00 o’clock.

Please remind that the spectators can follow all these events FOR FREE, on September 19 in the town of Luxembourg.