Tour de France

There is a first time for everything even for the greatest cycling race in the world.

A first in 109 years of history. The peloton rolls out from Plenitude Arena.

On July 24, 2022, for the 109th edition of the Tour de France, organizer ASO wrote an unprecedented page of history: for the first time since the race was created in 1903, the final stage’s starting gun was fired from inside a closed entertainment venue. Plenitude Arena became, on that morning, far more than a concert hall. It became the launchpad to the Champs-Élysées. 20,000 spectators answered the call and admission was free.

The venue transformed overnight

In record time, operational teams installed a four-kilometre fictional course inside the arena. 70 people mobilised alongside ASO’s own crews to turn Plenitude Arena into a giant stage-village. The Tour’s caravane, that beloved popular institution that sends children sprinting along roadsides every summer, rolled through the stands, handing out gifts inside a closed indoor arena. An image no one had ever seen before. A magic intact, amplified by the room’s natural resonance.

The rest was pure spectacle. Sponsor activations, a tightrope performance, a DJ set, the 1,400 m² giant screen, Plenitude Arena deployed everything it does best to transform a race departure into a popular celebration. Cycling fans mixed with Racing 92 regulars, curious newcomers, and families with wide-eyed children staring at the champions’ bikes.

The most moving moment belonged to Bernard Thévenet

The French cycling legend, twice a Tour winner, in 1975 and 1977, was present that day for a heartfelt tribute marking his 50th Tour de France. Visibly moved, he left arm in arm with race director Christian Prudhomme. In a venue accustomed to musical emotion, this one carried a flavour all its own.

The riders played along wholeheartedly

On the final day of a gruelling Tour, the fastest in history by average speed. The 135 survivors in the peloton allowed themselves a moment of release before the final sprint on the Champs-Élysées. Thibaut Pinot, an avowed PSG supporter, launched a roaring “Ici c’est Paris !” from the floor that electrified the stands. Colombian stars Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Uran sent their boisterous supporters into a frenzy. Jonas Vingegaard, about to write his name on the Tour’s honours board for the first time, having dethroned Tadej Pogačar in an epic duel through the Alps and Pyrenees, crossed the arena floor to a thunderous ovation.

Then the peloton rolled out. Toward the Champs-Élysées, through Rueil-Malmaison, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cyr-l’École, and nine laps of the Parisian circuit. Plenitude Arena watched 135 cyclists leave toward their destiny and took its place in the history books of the Tour de France.

109 editions. One first. And a venue that proved, once again, it was built for far more than music.