Velodrome Jacques-Anquetil

Vélodrome de Vincennes near Paris

The Vélodrome Jacques-Anquetil is a stadium with a velodrome in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris . Until 1987 it was called Vélodrome de Vincennes (also called La Cipale ).

Originally built as a pure cycle track (cement, 500 meters) in 1894 , it served as the main competition venue during the 1900 Summer Olympics and was converted for this purpose for 150,000 French francs . The competitions in cycling , cricket , rugby , football and gymnastics took place here. The athletics competitions were held on the grounds of the Racing Club de France . During the 1924 Summer Olympics , the stadium served as the venue for cycling competitions and the football tournament. Between 1968 and 1974 the last stage of the Tour de France ended here . Afterwards, mainly football and rugby games were played in the stadium.

From 1884 to 1993, the famous sprint classic Grand Prix de Paris was held on the 500 meter long cycle track . In 2012 the railway had to be closed due to its poor condition; their condition was reminiscent of the cobblestone stretches from Paris to Roubaix , according to a representative from the town hall. An initiative of cycling enthusiasts called Sauvons la Cipale was formed , who campaigned for the preservation of the track. In 2015 a renovation for six million euros was completed; since then the track has been open again for training purposes. However, cyclists continue to complain about the condition of the concrete runway.

The velodrome was the location of four feature films: Rue des Prairies (1959, with Jean Gabin and Claude Brasseur ), Monsieur Klein (1976, with Alain Delon ), Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (2001, with Benoît Poelvoorde ) and The Children of Paris ( 2010, with Mélanie Laurent and Jean Reno ).

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 , p. 43ff. and p. 483ff.

Web links

Commons : Vélodrome Jacques-Anquetil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official report on the 1900 Olympic Games (PDF; 5.7 MB)
• Official report on the 1924 Olympic Games (PDF; 87.6 MB)
• LE DÉFI DE JEAN-MICHEL: 24H À VÉLO SUR PISTE LES 18 et 19 JUIN 2009 ( Memento from February 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (French)
• La Cipale ( Memento from February 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (French)
• Video of Eddy Merckx at the 1974 Tour de France on the Cipale
• Photos of La Cipale on tropheekidam.free.fr

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Parisien . June 20, 2013. p. 24
2. ↑ La Cipale, vélodrome de légende, rouvre discrètement ses portes après rénovation. In: france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. July 21, 2015, accessed April 26, 2019 (French). 

Coordinates: 48 ° 49 ′ 35 "  N , 2 ° 24 ′ 42"  E