Scores of prisoners and their guards set off on Thursday on a unique Tour de France cycling race for convicts, aimed at preparing them for life on the outside.
Scores of prisoners and their guards set off onu00a0 Thursday on a unique Tour de France cycling race for convicts, aimed at preparing them for life on the outside.
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The prisoner cyclists have to stay in a pack and no "breakaways" are allowed during the 15 stages of the inaugural race that covers 2,300 km from Villeneuve d'Ascq in northern France to Paris on June 18.
A total of 196 inmates and 300 staff will take part throughout the event's various stages.
As in the real Tour de France, which starts next month, the cyclists will be escorted by technical support vehicles, medical teams, and gendarmes on motorbikes and in cars.
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"The aim is to show that sport is a teaching tool," said Jean-Paul Chapu, director of a jail in Loos, who initiated the project.
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