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 or the emergency services 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 family and friends.
Insérer N° Vert : 0800 11 07 05

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 94.

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. 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 Pau. 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 Euros.

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 « ÉTAPE DU TOUR - VÉLO MAGAZINE » will be printed in the August 2005 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.



PHOTOS  

To receive photos taken on the race by MAINDRU Photos Angers 02 41 88 05 85 (www.maindruphoto.com), at your home address after the competition, please fix the numbered control badge to the centre of your handlebars.



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 (1987 to 1976),
   cat. B : 30 to 39 years (1975 to 1966),
   cat. C : 40 to 49 years (1965 to 1956),
   cat. D : 50 to 59 years (1955 to 1944),
   cat. E : years and over (1945 or before),
   cat. F : women under 35 years (1970 or after),
   cat. G : women over 35 years (1970 or before).
The corresponding age is that of 2005 (e.g., cat A: all those born between 1976 and the 31st of December 1987) .