ABSTRACT
The Tour de France has, since the late 1960s, made brief inroads into neighbouring countries. (It came briefly to the south of England in 1974 and 1994.) In 2002 it began in the Duchy of Luxembourg. The first two stages (7-8 July) took it south-eastwards from Luxembourg to Saarbrücken in Germany, and the third stage back westwards to Metz, in France. The sporting daily L'Equipe, which descends from the newspaper that first sponsored the Tour, still provides the most extensive coverage (up to five broadsheet pages a day) and perhaps best represents the popular spirit of the event. On 9 July it celebrated the return to France:
Le Tour s'exporte bien, mais aujourd'hui, retour au pays. En passant par la Lorraine jusqu'en Champagne, le Tour de France retrouve la mère patrie. Après toutes ces chutes depuis trois jours, espérons que ça va arrêter de tomber à Gravelotte, haut lieu de la guerre de 1870, tandis que, de Metz à Reims, c'est un peu d'histoire de France qui défilera sur l'itinéraire: Verdun, l'Argonne, Valmy. 1
