The director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, will be "
delighted
" to see Remco Evenepoel start the Grande Boucle next year, despite the little place left for the time trial in the route of the Tour 2023 unveiled Thursday.
To discover
The route of the Tour de France 2023
The general classification of the Tour de France
“
We will be absolutely delighted that he comes, whatever year he chooses
,” Prudhomme told AFP of the Belgian, who is coming off an extraordinary 2022 season with victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. , the Vuelta and the World Championship.
A great specialist in time trials, Evenepoel recently said that he had made his choice between the Giro and the Tour de France for 2023 but that he would not communicate it until January.
In the Belgian press, it is rather betting on his participation in the Tour of Italy which will offer three times for a cumulative distance of 70 km next May.
This should be even more the case now that the route of the Tour de France 2023 is known, with a unique individual time trial of 22 km in the Alps.
"
The routes of the Tour, they are made well in advance
", recalls Christian Prudhomme who "
dreams of finding the opposition of a super rider like Jacques Anquetil and a super-climber like Federico Bahamontes
".
"
We don't have it today but it could come back because we feel that we have champions who, whatever their mountain abilities, are even stronger in time trials
", adds the director of the Tour, without however explicitly mentioning Evenepoel.