A challenging starting position
This year’s Tour de Suisse was overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, DELTAgroup took on the role of security service provider for this year’s event, with a focus on ensuring the safety of all participants and adherence to the strict safety concept. To this end, the DELTAgroup team was tasked with forming protective perimeters around the start and finish areas of the Tour de Suisse.
A festival of cycling with restrictions
Implementing the defined protective perimeters and keeping the public away from the defined zones was a demanding and, at times, thankless task that didn’t always meet with the public’s understanding. Nevertheless, our staff were able to assert themselves in a friendly and consistent way, not least thanks to their vast experience of events – one of DELTAgroup’s core businesses.
Living out of a suitcase
For our staff, working on the Tour de Suisse was an exciting change to their usual routine, one particular aspect of this being the travel involved during this week. Over the course of the eight stages, the cyclists, and therefore the entire tour organisation, covered around 1,300 kilometres. It was a case of having to adapt quickly to new assignment locations, all of this in the hectic environment of a sporting event with numerous stakeholders such as local organisation committees, residents, public authorities and many more.
Planning and logistics
The project management team had to give priority to planning numerous aspects in order to ensure that this major event progressed smoothly, organising hotels, restaurants and accreditations. The fact that the staff were on duty for the entire event meant there was a greater demand for items of uniform and job-specific additional equipment.
A positive outcome
The feedback from the race organisers at the end of an exciting and demanding week was overwhelmingly positive. Kurt Betschart, technical director: "As organiser of the Tour de Suisse, this year we called upon the services of DELTAgroup for the first time and were very satisfied with the staff’s competent, assertive nature. All of the staff were willing to help and focussed on solutions. Their quick grasp of situations and their consistent implementation was a huge help to us during this unique version of the event during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we look forward to working together with them again at future events."