Axalta Coats Monument to Tour de France Winners

 

Axalta Coating Systems provided the coating for an impressive monument erected by the town of Pau, France, to honour the Tour de France and its history.

 

Pau, the capital of Béarn on the northern edge of the Pyrenees, has been a stage town of the Tour a staggering 66 times. This year will mark its 67^th time as a key stage of the Tour.

 

The impressive and permanent monument has been built in the heart of the city, in the Bois-Louis park. It comprises 104 two-meter high totems laid out in concentric circles, reminiscent of the historic Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire, England. Three of the totems are made of bronze and are uncoated – the presentation piece and a pair dedicated to the two World Wars – while the other one hundred and one totems have been cast from aluminium and glass and are dedicated to the winners of the Tour.

 

To reproduce the legendary yellow jersey of the champions, the totems have been painted with Alesta powder coating RAL 1018 Zinc Yellow, “the yellow of cheerfulness, the yellow of victory,” according to François Bayrou, the Mayor of Pau.

 

The primer and powder coating were supplied by Axalta and applied by its customer Job Coater, Sedam, who was commissioned to paint 111 totems in total: 101 for the current installation to represent the champions of the Tour, and 10 more for the future winners. A new totem will be added to the monument each year.

 

Alesta ZeroZinc primer was used for the pre-treatment of the substrate. This innovative next generation of zinc-free anticorrosion primer from Axalta offers excellent adhesion and degassing properties and is ideal for improving the finish on irregular substrates. Axalta powder coating RAL 1018 Zinc Yellow from the Alesta Fine Textured collection was then applied to provide the iconic yellow.