And 1, and 2 and 3! Three editions, three victories. Since 2017, Metz is indeed the most beautiful station in France. Victorious of La Rochelle three years ago, of Limoges two years ago, Metz had to fight hard this time to snatch the victory against Saint-Brieuc.
Judge rather: at the final blow of the gong, this Wednesday January 20 at 11 am sharp, Metz won only 235 votes… It is not much! But that’s a lot, against his Breton rival. Because the scores were enormous, the enthusiasm phenomenal, the gap narrow until the end. 76,829 votes for Metz, 76,594 for Saint-Brieuc.
The match lasted two days. Everything was played twenty-five minutes from the end. All proportion kept, it is like the victory of FC Metz in the 90e +1 against Lyon, last Sunday. This competition was a game, a battle, to use the jargon of the organizers of the competition on Facebook, Gares & Connexions, the station subsidiary of the SNCF. But what suspense!
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At kick-off, Monday: Metz in the lead
The public of Metz fans is ready, on the starting line, from Monday 11 a.m., for the kick-off of the final. During the past two months, Metz got rid of Marseille-Saint-Charles, Lille-Flandres, Rouen-Rive right, Valenciennes. For its part, Saint-Brieuc has eaten Colmar, La Baule, Tours and Limoges.
At noon, Metz already has 5,000 votes, and leads. At 1 pm, the score is already at 12,000. At 8 pm, Metz offers itself 1,500 votes in advance, out of a total of 34,000 votes, against 32,500 for its rival.
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Tuesday, Saint-Brieuc day
Yes, but there you go. Saint-Brieuc had mobilized 35,000 people in its semi-final, against 24,000 for Metz. The capital of Côtes-d’Armor has great potential, when Metz seems to show limits on its offensive capacity.
Tuesday noon, Metz holds the rope for a handful of votes. The milestone of 50,000 supporters in each camp is crossed at 12:37, the following hours will see a fierce struggle between the duelists. This is sometimes played with five votes apart, a mano a mano where the Bretons do not let go. Metz calls for the solidarity of neighboring cities: Reims, Nancy, Strasbourg. Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., Metz is narrowly ahead. An hour later, Saint-Brieuc took the lead again.
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Wednesday: everything is played at 10:35 am
When you wake up, the Bretons are in front. Metz is struggling, takes the ascendancy, then lets himself be overwhelmed. Participation climbs to dizzying heights. As one grumpy Internet user points out, “stop, we can see that you are voting for the city, more for the station”. This is probably not wrong. We must salute the capacity of Saint-Brieuc to unite its public: the city has 44,500 inhabitants, the agglomeration 95,000! It is three times less than Metz! However, she will succeed in obtaining 76,000 votes!
From 9.45 am, a big cold sweat. Metz is ahead, by a large margin, up to 600 votes apart. Saint-Brieuc believes in it. She relaxes the effort, too soon. Metz, specialist of the last minute, tumbles with unexpected reinforcements.
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At 10:35 am, she takes the lead again. It will keep it until the end, widening the gap, until this Homeric victory, almost on the edge. Good public, the Messins greet their opponents: “Saint-Brieuc has not been unworthy”. But it was hard !
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0,15 %
0.15% is the difference between the two finalists: Metz and Saint-Brieuc. Out of 153,423 votes, only 235 separate them! 76 829 for Metz, 76 594 for Saint-Brieuc. This is exactly 0.153%. As if, in an election, the first was elected with 50.078% of the votes, against 49.922%. Between the two, a dust, a title.
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