Women’s Tour de France in the Lot: all about traffic, safety, the route of the Cahors-Rodez stage

They will have to travel 177.5km, to rally Cahors to Rodez, during this 4th stage of the 2023 Women’s Tour de France, going from 125m above sea level to 572m. The (fictitious) starting signal will be at 12:25, for a real start at 12:40, this Wednesday 26 July.

In the Lot portion of the route, the riders will encounter two difficulties: the Col de Crayssac at 4.8% over 2.3km and the Côte de Falgeyras at 4% over 3km, both category 4. Before moving on to the Aveyron with a succession of uphill and downhill sections.

Until then, the provincial council is making all the preparations, to give the best welcome to the riders of the Tour, including the spectators, making sure that the people of Lot are involved as little as possible in their daily lives.

“It is always an opportunity for our department to receive a stage of the Tour de France, female or male, because it is part of the promotion of our territory thanks to a good media relay”, admits Frédéric Gineste, vice president of the department in charge of Mobility Infrastructures.

For the elected official, even if sport is not one of the competences of the provincial council, it remains a shared mission, through projects and actions such as the promotion of sport or women’s practice. “Therefore, we have decided in the departmental assembly to help the flagship teams of the clubs, men’s and women’s, at the same level.”*

3 hours in the Lot, 400 bales of hay and 50 departmental agents on deck

The Lot, which also carried out a great promotional campaign with Oh my Lot, had advanced its pawns to Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse to apply for the Women’s Tour. “And then, we managed to prove ourselves with the good organization of the two stages of 2022 in the Lot. Everything went well, we learned our lesson for this time, we have our reflexes, although it is true that less effort is needed there because the Tour champions, after their departure from Cahors, will stay in the Lot for only three hours”, underlines Fré deric Gineste.

Following the Women’s Tour road book, the department’s road crews then inspected the affected roads. “We identified the needs, planned some modifications here and there, the bulk of the work concerned an 8km stretch towards Saint-Jean-de-Laur”, explains Lot’s vice president.

At the same time, the roundabouts, the edges of the facilities along the roads, the signs to be installed, everything was checked to comply with the safety requirements set by the organizers. “We will install barriers, but also 400 bales of hay. About fifty of our agents will also be on deck, I pay tribute to their availability and their investment”.

And all these little people will ensure perfect traffic conditions until the very end, with street sweepings scheduled until the very last moment Wednesday morning.

The route of this fourth stage of the 2023 edition

This 4th stage will take the runners to: Douelle (RD 8), Luzech, Caïx (RD 9), Crayssac (RD 23), Espère (RD 811), Mercuès, back to Cahors (côte des Ormeaux, avenue du 7e R.-I., la côte des Évêques), Lamagdelaine (RD 653), Saint-Géry-Vers (RD 662), Conduché ( Bou ziès), Tour-de-Faure, Saint-Martin-Labouval, Larnagol, Gaillac (Cajarc-RD 19), Saint-Jean-de-Laur (RD 79), Puyjourdes.

On the route, the departmental roads are expected to be closed approximately 30 minutes before the passage of the group. And the reopening must take place shortly after the passage of the sweeper. Traffic will then be temporarily banned as the race progresses, i.e. approximately 1 hour of traffic stopped at each point (if the gap between the front of the group and the last is not too great).

In detail Cahors – Boulevard Gambetta: closed to traffic from 5:00 to 15:00 Quai Cavaignac, avenues André-Breton, Maryse-Bastié and De Lattre-De-Tassigny: closed to traffic from 11:00 to 12:30 RD 8 in Douelle: closed at 12:10 RD 8 in Parnac: closed at 12:15 RD 8 in Luzech: closed at 12:20 RD 9 in Luzech: closes at 12:25 RD 9 in Crayssac: closes at 12:30 RD 811 in Crayssac: closes at 12:35 Cahors: Côtes des Ormeaux and des Évêques, avenue du 7e R.-I. : closed to traffic from 12:30 to 14:00 RD 811 (Mercuès-Cahors) and RD 653 (Cahors-Laroque-des-Arcs): closed to traffic from 12:30 to 14:00 RD 653 in Lamagdelaine: closed at 13:00 RD 653 in Saint-Géry-Vers: closed at 13:15 RD 6 62 in Saint-Géry-Vers: closes at 1.20 pm RD 662 in Bouziès: closes at 1.30 pm RD 662 in Tour-de-Faure: closes at 1.35 pm RD 662 in Saint-Martin-Labou val: closes at 1.50 pm RD 662 in Larnagol: closes at 1.55 pm RD 19 in Cajarc: closes at 2.05 pm RD 79 in Saint-Jean-de-Laur: closes at 2.20pm RD 79 in Puyjourdes: closes at 2.25pm ​​RD 79 in Laramière: closes at 2.30pm

Attention: there are no road closures for the passage of the caravan. Some crossings can be neutralized very temporarily two hours before the passage of the group.