At the 2024 Tour de France, 7-7 (Sun) will be held on Stage 9 around Trois with a 32.2km gravel race, which has become very popular in the cycling world, but its passion has not burned much among the top grand tour teams.
There was a reverberation of controversy over the inclusion of cobblestone roads like the Paris Roubaix in last year's tour, and after Wednesday's route revelations, the topic drew a measure of anger from Richard Plug, CEO of Jumbo Visma.He praised the diverse route otherwise his team will try to achieve the 3rd Tour de France victory for Jonas Vingegor.
"It's an incredibly challenging course from the first meter," Plugge said. "I think it's a bit unnecessary to include gravel. It increases the likelihood of bad luck. We want the fight to be as fair as possible. In my opinion, such a ride does not contribute to it."
Gravel roads were standard in the early days of the Tour de France, but the equipment has evolved to be more compatible with high-speed, paved surfaces, and we don't race regularly on the Grand Tour Riders label.
"It's my first time riding on gravel during a race, so it's going to be a new experience," says Vingegaard. "It's a day when you can lose more than you can get. We must have a relationship with the choice of course builders."
The Grand Tour has begun to add sections of gravel roads over the past 15 years, with the first major section taking place at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, with some of the routes used at Strade Bianche included in Stage 7. The day was close to a disaster as heavy rain turned the section into mud.
Cadel Evans parlayed his mountain bike skills into a stage victory, finishing his rainbow jersey almost invisible under the Tuscan dirt. But even he doesn't know if the risk of bad luck is worth it, calling the stage "like taking an f1 car off・road for a rally."
More recently, a similar stage at the Giro d'Italia 2021 included 35.2 km of gravel, and the Remco Evenepoel (
The Tour de France Femme contains just 4km of gravel in Stage 12.9 from Trois to Bar・sur・Orb in 2022, and most of the main favorites
are also Paul's team boss Patrick Lefevre, who will be the Tour de France's next year's Tour de France. When asked about Lance's stage, he said, "It's like asking me what I think about the cobblestone of the tour... I'm not a fan of it.
Tour de France organizers had to defend the inclusion of cobblestones in the Tour de France after the chaotic stages of 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. In the 2022 edition of Stage 5, the unpaved surface continued to wreak havoc on the GC leader as Primošroglić crashed in one of the sectors 1 and dislocated his shoulder.
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