Report: Thailand in talks to host Tour de France
Tour de France organizers began discussions about bringing the race to Thailand for the first time and hope to do so by 2016, reports Reuters.
In recent years, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain and Luxembourg have also hosted the start of the Tour. Riders then make their way through France and finish at the Champs Elysees in Paris.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand held talks with the Amaury Sport Organisation last month in Paris, according to the report.
“We are still talking with Tour de France organisers but we are looking at next fiscal year. So 2016, not 2015," TAT governor Thawatchai Arunyik said, according to Reuters. “We’re not sure yet how many stages we will hold whether it is one or two stages or the whole competition. This is something that still needs to be discussed.
Last year’s Tour began in England and went through Belgium before the 2,276-mile race made its way to the finish. According to the report, other countries are vying to host part of the competition, including Thailand.
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali won the 101st edition of the race by seven minutes and 37 seconds over Jean-Christophe Péraud of France.
"Thailand is the perfect location for this highly prestigious competition, not to mention that cycling as a sport is enjoying enormous popularity here at the moment,” Arunyik said.
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