“Riding for Peace”: A bicycle parade to promote peace through sport

On the morning before the start of the final time trial stage of the 2024 Tour de France, the international organization Peace & Sport and the Tour de France organized “Riding for Peace,” a bicycle parade on the route of the 21st stage. Directly aligned with the values of peace and inclusion promoted by Peace and Sport, the event brought together around forty peace champions, high-level athletes, and influential personalities invited by the NGO. The participants, dressed in white to embody the values of sport and reference Peace and Sport’s emblematic #WhiteCard campaign for the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, took to the circuit, escorted by the Prince’s Carabinieri Company and in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco to highlight the NGO’s actions. For the record: Peace and Sport is an international, neutral, and independent organization based in Monaco, promoting peace through the power of sport. Founded in 2007 by Joël Bouzou, Olympic medalist in modern pentathlon and world champion, Peace and Sport operates under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. Peace and Sport calls on international decision-makers to intentionally use sport as a tool to transmit the values of peace, relying on its universality, its Champions for Peace, and grassroots actors. Aware that athletes are also citizens capable of playing a role in society, Peace and Sport created in 2009 the Champions for Peace Club, a group of over 120 athletes from about forty nationalities across five continents. Heroes, role models, and sources of inspiration for young people worldwide, they dedicate part of their time, notoriety, and experience as athletes to projects using sport to address social, economic, and educational issues.