The parade of Losc players in Lille to celebrate the title of Champion of France. – M.Libert / 20 Minutes
- The title of French champion of Losc was widely celebrated by the supporters.
- A popular parade was organized in Lille on Monday, despite the coronavirus epidemic.
- In the world of professional cycling, some denounce the lack of logic of the authorities.
After the euphoria, the controversy. Losc supporters largely celebrated their team’s fourth French championship title. Since Sunday evening, Lille has been the scene of two large popular gatherings which, in these times of the coronavirus epidemic, are not to everyone’s taste. The world of cycling, in particular, feels cheated.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, thousands of Lille supporters gathered on the Grand’Place spontaneously to celebrate together the coronation of their team. A popular craze that caught the authorities by surprise, who hadn’t organized anything that evening. Town hall and prefecture had well advanced the idea of opening the place of the Goddess to the supporters with a reduced gauge and in the respect of barrier gestures… But the crowd was right of this resolution of the lesser evil. A failure that was nobody’s fault.
A shocking difference in treatment
The situation is not the same for the Monday afternoon parade, which was indeed officially organized on a defined route in the city center. And it is precisely the authorization of such an event that poses a problem and not the fact that the Losc was celebrated with dignity. “Thousands of people to celebrate the title of Losc. Normal! And during this time, the public is strictly prohibited in the vicinity of the departures and arrivals of cycling races ”, indignant on Twitter Daniel Baal, general manager of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and former president of the French Cycling Federation.
And in the world of cycling, he is not the only one to rebel: “Out of respect for the other sports which have taken so dearly, how we can authorize today the procession of the LOSC bus in the city center. ? “Asks the former professional rider Felix Pouilly. “I understand and share the joy of Lille … But I would like to know the reaction of the Prefect who banned Paris-Roubaix and the 4 days of Dunkirk”, asks
Daniel Mangeas, the famous sports commentator. An enigma also for the professional northern cyclist Florian Sénéchal who shared on Twitter the point of view of Daniel Mangeas. “Not much to add,” also tweeted the National Union of Professional Cyclists (UNCP) which had
denounced, a few days earlier “Inappropriate health measures that endanger the practice” of cycling.