Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme drums on Netflix's Tour series.

In a recent lengthy interview with Belgian newspaper La Dèrniere Heure, Prudhomme discussed the first series of Tour de France: Unchained, which first aired last June.

Prudhomme also noted that next July's yellow contenders, besides the two 2023 winners, Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Wisma-Ries A-Bike), will be joined by Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lemko Evenpoel (Sourdal-Quick Step) have joined the race, he said he expects the main GC storyline to change from a "duel of two" to a "race of aces." Prudhomme said, "With Evenpoel in the Tour, the peloton will be more prone to panic." 'He might upset the apple cart.'

"He was really impressive in the last Vuelta a España. When Evenpoel crashed on the Tourmalet stage, we thought he might abandon, but instead he put in a great performance until the last day."

"As much as I would love to see him join the overall contenders, no matter what happens, he is bound to put on a great show. We are very happy to have him in the race."

"I am very happy to have him in the race.

Next July, we expect Belgium's top athletes to set off fireworks on the French roads, while another, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), will be participating for the first time in six years.

"We always dream of having all the top athletes in the Tour de France, but at some point some will choose to race another race," Prudhomme said.

"It's an Olympic year and I'm sure he has the Olympics in the back of his mind. But whatever race he chooses, we are happy to have him back as soon as possible."

Prudhomme was similarly upbeat about the possibility of a four-man GC top contender at the 2024 Tour.

"Having four different top riders on four different teams is going to create a lot of enthusiasm," Prudhomme, who was in Belgium for a fundraiser for leukemia research organized by the Ariane Foundation, told La Dernière Heure.

"Out of the four, there are two players who could attack anytime and anywhere. Pogachar and Evenpoel can open gaps in unexpected places.

"It's nice to see their boldness compared to thoughtful riders like Roglic and Vingegaard." As for the Netflix series, "I think the two are perfectly complementary," Prudhomme said.

"A lot of people discovered that cycling is a team sport and, personally speaking, discovered what kind of person Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) is.

"Its complementary nature is important and it allows us to open our minds to young people. The renewal of the Tour de France Femme is part of our search for new audiences."

According to Prudhomme, this new attempt to broaden the fan base has been so successful that a quarter of the fans who came to watch the race from the roadside last year were completely new to the Tour. In addition, the second largest age group of Tour de France spectators was 15 to 24 years old, and 54% of new fans from the roadside were women, he concluded. He concluded."

Regarding new geographical developments in the 2024 Tour, Prudhomme said that the final stage has been changed to Nice, "which means that the finish will really be near the mountains.

"48 hours before the finish, the riders will be able to cross the summit of Bonnet, the highest mountain in France, and the final stage will include a time trial with a 700 meter climb from Monaco to Nice. If the final victory is determined there, that would be great."