Skip to main content

Cycling in chains?

In France an unusual cycle race has been held, for prisoners. Some 200 felons have been allowed out of the prison walls to race bicycles around the country, while under close watch from prison guards. This 2,300km race is no easy saunter around the park however, starting in the historic city of Lille, passing through 17 towns along the way and finishing in capital Paris. The aim of this unusual project is to help the men reintegrate into society by fostering values such as effort, teamwork and self-esteem,
February 29, 2012 Read time: 1 min
In France an unusual cycle race has been held, for prisoners. Some 200 felons have been allowed out of the prison walls to race bicycles around the country, while under close watch from prison guards. This 2,300km race is no easy saunter around the park however, starting in the historic city of Lille, passing through 17 towns along the way and finishing in capital Paris. The aim of this unusual project is to help the men reintegrate into society by fostering values such as effort, teamwork and self-esteem, according to the organisers.

Related Content

  • San Francisco and Medellin win the 2012 Sustainable Transport Award
    March 15, 2012
    The US city of San Francisco, and Medellin, Colombia have been declared the winners of the 8th annual Sustainable Transport Award by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
  • Latin America invests in infrastructure growth
    February 15, 2012
    Travelling in one of the world's most diverse regions is not always easy, but spectacular engineering feats will make life easier as Patrick Smith reports. Five years ago a report from the World Bank noted that infrastructure in most of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) had improved over the previous ten years.
  • Norway’s record breaking undersea road tunnel
    February 25, 2015
    The world's deepest road tunnel is currently in construction near Stavanger in Norway but is only the prelude to even larger projects - report and photographs by Adrian Greeman. Norway's convoluted coastline of fjords and high mountains is famously scenic but also a major problem for transport and connections. The country has long experience of constructing tunnels as a result. Now a series of tunnels underway, or in design, around the oil industry city of Stavanger will stretch its skills more than usual.
  • Cycling heavyweight
    January 27, 2017
    A German man from Schleswig-Holstein has set a new world record. With his 1.1tonne bicycle he has now had his name listed by the Guinness World Records for the world’s heaviest bicycle. The man rode his monster, self-built bicycle a distance of 100m to claim the record, beating the previous title holder which tipped the scales at a mere 860kg. Because of its immense size and weight, the bicycle did have to be equipped with training wheels at the rear to ensure it remained stable. Novel features for the bicy