Editing Tour de France (section)

=== Deciding the route ===
To host a stage start or finish brings prestige and business to a town. The prologue and first stage ([[List of Tour de France Grands Départs|Grand Départ]]) are particularly prestigious. The race may start with a prologue (too short to go between towns) in which case the start of the next day's racing, which would be considered stage 1, usually in the same town. In 2007 director [[Christian Prudhomme]] said that "in general, for a period of five years we have the Tour start outside France three times and within France twice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://provenceblog.typepad.com/provence_blog_by_provence/2007/06/tour-de-france-.html |title=Provence Blog by ProvenceBeyond: Tour de France starting in Monaco |publisher=Provenceblog.typepad.com |access-date=4 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212200635/http://provenceblog.typepad.com/provence_blog_by_provence/2007/06/tour-de-france-.html |archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref>

In the local towns and cities that the Tour visits for stage starts and finishes, it is a spectacle that usually shuts these towns down for the day, resulting in a very festive atmosphere, and these events usually require months of planning and preparation. ASO employs around 70 people full-time, in an office facing—but not connected to—''L'Équipe'' in the [[Issy-les-Moulineaux]] area of outer western Paris. That number expands to about 220 during the race itself, not including the 500-odd contractors employed to move barriers, erect stages, signpost the route, and other work.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=37}} ASO now also operates several other major bike races throughout the year.