World-leading intelligent security provider, Securitas has put its expertise at the service of one of the world’s biggest sporting events – the Tour de France – and is celebrating a successful mission.

Described as “an intense and extraordinary mission” by Wilfried Soler, operations manager at Securitas in Lyon, the operation involved more than 600 security guards, who were deployed on the 21 stages of the historic event, which took place in July, for five weeks, across France.

Launched more than a century ago, the Tour De France is regarded as a national symbol, which continues to thrill crowds and attract the attention of sports and cycling enthusiasts through mid-summer.

Since 2017, Securitas says it has been following caravans, runners and organisers along the famous route to ensure the safety of each stage, at all levels.

“Our preparation begins a week before the start of the tour,” said Soler. “All the Securitas agencies in France located on the route are contacted and work with us, which makes this mission a concrete representation of our ONE Securitas strategy”.

From start to finish, including the podium

Securitas security agents worked in different places and at different times of the event: they were responsible for monitoring the end of the route in Spain, during the three days when the Tour passed through the country, with in particular the filtering of some 120,000 spectators.

“Along the rest of the course, we secure both the start lines and the finish lines, the VIP stands, the refueling zones. We also manage the surveillance of the car parks of the hotels of the competing teams, where the equipment trucks are parked”, continued Wilfried Soler.

To carry out this extraordinary mission, Securitas works in close collaboration with its client ASO but also with local actors: town halls, police stations, etc. Soler is surrounded by a faithful and competent team (his assistant Zaghdoud Mohamed and 4 team leaders) of enthusiasts like him, “which is essential to successfully manage such an event”, he said.

“In this kind of mission,” he continued, “you have to be able to adapt to all situations, progress every day to always do better and even sometimes react according to current events. When the riots started at the beginning of July, we reinforced our surveillance of police and gendarmerie vehicles, which were potentially threatened.”

Securitas’ said that its operation once again fully satisfied the client, to the point that they were entrusted, for the first time, with securing the women’s Tour de France, which began just after the arrival of the men’s riders on July 23. This, the company described as a “new challenge to match the ambitions of the Securitas teams”.

For more services news, click here