It was an original baptism of fire for the three ministers. The famous enclosure of national velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the playground of the French track cycling team which will aim for Olympic gold next summer, got into European time by welcoming this Monday politicians more accustomed to crowding the European Parliament than getting on a bicycle. Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Europe, and his German counterparts, Anna Lührmann, and Polish counterpart, Adam Szlapka, carried out their baptism of track cycling in good spirits.
Barely enough time to swap the suit-tailor for the shorts-helmet-automatic shoes that the “Weimar Triangle” followed the instructions of a master in the field. “You may not be aware but you don’t have brakes on these bikes. Afterwards it’s easy, you just have to pedal”, says Jean-François Guiborel, known as “La Guibole”. This former runner, coach, manager of a pro team, journalist, assistant for France Televisionshimself created the protocol for these track baptisms in 2014, the year the site was inaugurated.
Proof that Europe’s elected representatives “work very well together”
After 30 minutes of pedaling, the “rope” and the “Côte d’Azur” (areas of the widest track in Europe) no longer hold any secrets for our trail riders of the day. “It’s very different from the usual bike,” reacts, quickly, the Yvelines MP who is preparing the “marathon for all” of the Paris Olympics on August 10. “It’s special but I think we did very well,” smiles Anna Lührmann, Germany’s deputy minister for European affairs and climate. “It was great,” adds his Polish neighbor Adam Szlapka.
“We felt everyone was very comfortable, some could have climbed much higher with a little more time,” comments Jean-François Guiborel, who was accompanied during the session by Thomas Kurtzemann and Christelle Ribault, world medalist in para-cycling. “It’s not always easy because we often put a small mental barrier on ourselves that we have to know how to overcome at the moment,” confides the para-athlete.
For the amateur trio, this conclusive experience is proof that Europe’s elected officials “work very well together”. At the end, the three ministers did not miss the opportunity to reiterate “the importance of seizing your vote” during the next elections on June 9.
