SAFETY

Participants' safety
Various Gendarmerie motorcycles will be spread over the race to provide safety at the start of the race and for the various packs of cyclists.
Civil motorcycles will also be present and in permanent contact with the Gendarmerie.
In agreement with the authorities, the itinerary should be entirely closed to traffic. Despite these exceptional safety measures for such an event, we ask you to be very careful and to remain vigilant at all times throughout the race.

Medical service / First aid
A medical team made up of eleven emergency doctors will cover the event.
The Red cross will assist this team and set up:
   10 ambulances along the route,
   4 Permanent medical tents.

Freefone Number
A freefone number will be printed on bib numbers so that a competitor who encounters problems (breakdown, incident), may inform the race HQ free of charge. The race HQ can then easily notify and reassure the competitor's friends and family.
N° Vert: 0800 11 07 04

Accompanying vehicles
No personal vehicles will be allowed to follow the race during its entire duration.
Only vehicles accredited by the organisation will be allowed to do so.
During bib number collection we will notify persons accompanying participants of the shortest route to the finish, avoiding the race itinerary.

Helmets
The organisers remind participants that hard helmets must be worn throughout the race.



ELIMINATION SYSTEM

1. Any competitors overtaken by the “End of Race” vehicle, at any point on the itinerary, will be considered as eliminated from the race and must obligatorily return their transponder and their bib number and board one of the “Sweep Up” coaches.

2. An “elimination” zone will be set up on the race: Towards Kilometre 202.
The exact position of this zone will be communicated to you at a later date after validation from the Prefecture.
The maximum time limit will be calculated according to an average speed of 19km/ph from Km 30. All riders arriving after the scheduled time limit must abandon the race.

3. The “End Of Race” will be indicated by 2 Organisation vehicles accompanied by 2 Gendarmerie motorcycles and the sweep up coaches.
The “End of Race n°2” vehicle will force riders who are over the scheduled time limit to stop and place their bikes in the bike van and their transponders in the “Sweep up Coach”.



RANKING SYSTEM

To ensure fairness, we shall once again be using a high-performance timing system that will record times to the closest second, between the start and finish line.
Therefore, at the “Host Village”, along with your bib number, we shall provide a transponder (chip) that you must fix to your ankle with Velcro on the day of the race.
The transponder is proof of your presence in the race.
This will enable us to verify your presence at the start, at certain points of the race and at the finish, and give us your exact time, over the distance actually covered.

Please note Transponders will be lent to all participants and must be returned to the organisers at the finish in Saint-Flour. All participants who do not return them shall be disqualified. If the transponder is lost or not returned to the organisers, the participant must pay 75 €.

RANKINGS

The race shall be timed and will result in several rankings:
   a scratch ranking,
   a ranking by scratch and category,
   a real ranking,
   a real ranking by category.
All rankings of the “Vélo Magazine - Étape Du Tour” will be printed in the August 2004 edition of Vélo Magazine and will be available on the Website: www.letapedutour.com.
Random and fixed checks shall be set up to guard against any attempts at cheating at the start of the race, taking of another itinerary or being transported from one point of the race to another.



MEDALS AND CERTIFICATES

A medal shall be given to each participant after the finish, when transponders have been collected.
Certificates will be sent to competitors' homes by post according to their age category and race time.


AGE CATEGORIES

Participants shall be ranked into 7 categories as follows:
   cat. A: 18 to 29 years (1986 to 1975),
   cat. B: 30 to 39 years (1974 to 1965),
   cat. C: 40 to 49 years (1964 to 1955),
   cat. D: 50 to 59 years (1954 to 1945),
   cat. E: 60 years and over (1944 or before),
   cat. F: women under 35 years (1969 or after),
   cat. G: women over 35 years (1969 or before).
The corresponding age is that of 2004 (e.g., cat A: all those born between 1975 and the 31^st of December 1986).