Paris-Nice 2024: race starts at Le Mureau

For the 15th time in a row, Paris-Nice will start from Yvelines next Sunday, March 3rd. The Race to the Sun, which traditionally opens the international cycling season in Europe, has its own habits in the department. And after Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Plaisir, Mantes-la-Ville and La Verrière in 2023, it was the city of Mureau that was chosen as the starting point for the event organized by the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO).

The information will be officially released on Tuesday morning in Versailles, in the council chambers of the Yvelines department, bound by an agreement with ASO, which also organizes the Tour de France, until 2025.

The town of Le Mureau will host the start and finish of the first stage Paris-Nice. “We are of course very pleased and proud to be able to host such a prestigious event,” says Jean-Pierre Lignoux, President of Vélo Club Les Mureaux. His association, which has seen champions such as racing driver Gregory Beaujeu (now coach of the French Olympic team), intends to use this event to get people talking about him again.

Despite the shortage of volunteers, the 33-licensee club, which organizes the Ile-de-France cyclocross Cup final on January 21 at the Verneuil-sur-Seine leisure centre, is working on a series of events to highlight the highlights of this big deviation from the 2024 Paris-Nice season.

The city is also waiting for the Olympic flame…

For Les Mureaux, the event will mark the start of a year that is more dedicated to sport than ever before. It is no coincidence that the municipality’s greeting card is decorated in the colors of all sports. Three days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the popular city of 33,500 people will be honored to see the passing of the Olympic flame on Tuesday, July 23. This is an honor for the “Land of Games”, as Le Mureau hosted the sailing competitions of the “Paris” Games of 1900 and 1924.

To mark the occasion, the Nautical Club, whose buildings housing the Paris Sailing Circle (CVP) date back to the end of the 19th century, will undergo a major renovation. The site is built on a flooded area on the banks of the Seine and it is necessary, in particular, to replace reinforced concrete piles. In addition to the work to bring it up to standard, the roof and facades will also be given a second life.

The project, which costs 750,000 euros, received exceptional support of 250,000 euros from the Yvelines department. It is due to be completed next spring to mark the centenary of the 1924 Games in June.

Once the restoration is completed, the site will serve as an experimental site for the marine activities of the future Institute of Parasports Health (ISPC), built at Mureau on the Bécheville plateau. This future center of excellence, unique in the world, the main legacy of the 2024 Games for Yvelines, will be considered the Insep of the Paralympic Games. From 2026, physical activity will be encouraged among people with disabilities. The laying of its first stone is scheduled for the transfer of the Olympic flame on July 23. Quite a symbol.