IN terms of world sporting events, Le Tour is ranked third behind the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup, but it remains indubitably the greatest annual sporting promotion. So for Ireland to host the first three days next year - Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 11th, 12th and 13th - is really something to look forward to.
Properly handled, the visit of Le Tour is inestimable. I don't know how the figures are arrived at, but according to one of the Tour press hand outs, an estimated television audience of 950 million is expected. The nearest experience we have of this sort of thing here was the Nissan Classic, which was staged successfully from 1985 to 1992, and a modern version of those attractive television pictures of the Irish countryside is reckoned to be worth £30 million to the tourism business.
For the TV coverage, there will be 13 helicopters and four fixed wing aircraft. The live transmissions will be seen in France each day, and the figure of 262,000 French visitors to Ireland last year is expected to be considerably increased.
People have often asked what it was like on Le Tour and I always found it difficult to explain how an event of much greater magnitude than an All Ireland final would move from place to place, about 150 miles each day, for three weeks.
Each year towns and cities around France - and in adjoining countries - plead for the Tour to come their way, and in recent, years it has gone outside France on 13 occasions. England was visited twice - in 1974 and 1994 - but it never started there, so Dublin will be the first starting point outside mainland Europe.
With the World Cup in France next year, it is advantageous for them to have the Tour starting elsewhere. Because of the World Cup the start is a week later than usual; the soccer finalists will be battling it out in Paris on Sunday, July 12th, while the riders will be charging towards a stage finish in the Phoenix Park.
Estimates of the number of people involved vary, but in recent years there have been 198 riders - 22 teams of nine. Some outfits have a bigger back up squad than others, but with so many officials required the number of accredited personnel comes - to about 3,500. The number of journalists varies from day to day, but usually about 1,000 crowd into the pressroom at the end of each stage.
For Pat McQuaid, the Tour coming here is the realisation of a dream. He said he first mentioned the possibility to the Tour director general, Jean Marie Leblanc, after a stage end at Andorre in 1993, and although Leblanc obviously had some doubts, McQuaid persisted and eventually agreement was reached.
The transportation of the 1,500 vehicles to France for the Tour to continue there the next day - which is Bastille Day - posed the biggest problem; three large ferries will carry them from Cork to Roscoff.
The Irish stages have been chosen to provide a mixture of good racing without being too severe so early in the Tour, and some spectacular television coverage is assured.
The prologue time trial, over a closed five mile circuit in Dublin on the Saturday will take in some of the Georgian district and old Dublin around Christ Church. The Sunday stage of 110 miles will be from Dublin through Bray and Arklow, then Woodenbridge, Avoca, Rathdrum, Laragh and over the Wicklow Gap to Blessington and Tallaght, with what should be an attractive finish in the Phoenix Park.
On the Monday there will be a transfer to the start at Enniscorthy, centre of the 1798 rebellion commemorations. The route will take in New Ross and Waterford, and Carrick on Suir in honour of Sean Kelly. After that it goes to Dungarvan and Youghal, with the finish of the 120 miles in Cork.
Two planes will take the riders and top officials to France, as the Stena Line takes over to move a line of vehicles three miles long to Roscoff.
