Christian Prudhomme, who wanted a start for punchers, hopes to "reproduce the first week" of the Tour de France 2021, next year, with the start in Denmark, the sequence of cobblestones and nervous arrivals.
The director of the Tour, who presented the profile of the next edition on Thursday, explained himself on the course and also other subjects (safety, Tour de France Women).
To discover
The general classification of the Tour de France 2021
Tour de France 2022: discover the map and the route of the next edition
See also Denmark, cobblestones, Planche des Belles Filles, Alpe d'Huez: the highlights of the Tour de France 2022
Is it a favorable course for a runner?
Christian Prudhomme:
“We don't do a course for a runner but for a type of runner. This is the case for the first week. There is a trio of exceptional punchers that excites us, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and the double world champion Julian Alaphilippe. In the first ten days there are short but sharp climbs where their talent can express itself. The first week of the Tour last summer was really exciting, notwithstanding the falls, with the emotions, the attacks from afar ... We hope to reproduce this first week, the ground is there. "
Why introduce new paved areas?
“There are five out of eleven unpublished.
We have roughly 55 kilometers of cobblestones in Paris-Roubaix.
But there are a hundred in total.
The idea is to ensure that this capital is protected.
In order for them to be maintained and still exist, people must be able to hope that these cobblestones will one day be used by Paris-Roubaix or the Tour de France. ”
There will be fewer passes next summer than in recent years but it is a sham, we will climb higher, the Galibier is over 2600 meters, and there will be five finishes at the top of which the 'one at the Col du Granon
Christian Prudhomme
Read also Tour de France 2022: discover the map and the route of the next edition
In its second part, the Tour has fewer passes but a concentration of high mountains ...
"There will be fewer passes next summer than in recent years but it's a sham, we will climb higher. , the Galibier is beyond 2600 meters, and there will be five finishes at the top, one of which is at the Col du Granon. The Pyrenees will mirror the Alps with two finishes at the top. ”
Are you giving in to vintage fashion by coming back to Granon and repeating the 1986 Alpe d'Huez stage?
“These are images that have marked the history of the Tour. We wanted to find an emblematic and very tough finish, it is the Col du Granon. For Alpe d'Huez, the stage has remained legendary, Hinault and LeMond in the same team headed by Bernard Tapie. We had not been there for four years, a long absence which had never happened since the 1970s. This is due to a lot of applications and to the discovery of new passes such as the Col de la Loze (a novelty). 2020). ”
In the past, there has been an overwhelming crowd on the climb to Alpe d'Huez. What do you say about this after the accident due to a reckless spectator at the start of the 2021 Tour?
“The Tour audience is a formidable audience. Obviously, people need to pay more attention to the safety of everyone, runners and spectators. When we go on the roads of the Tour, it's to see the champions, not to show off or take a selfie. This lady made a huge ball that could have had even greater consequences, but she is not a terrorist. "
It is also the first Tour de France Women. Why does it take place in the wake of the Tour?
“You just can't run two events at the same time with the television coverage that is desirable.
What people often don't see is that the Tour de France is broadcast today from the first to the last mile.
How then?
The women's races exist, they are not sufficiently publicized, that is why we start the day of the arrival of the Tour.
We are delighted to have a Tour de France Women with Zwift and we clearly have with Marion Rousse the right person to lead it. ”
