The race director of the Tour de France rebuffed Tadej Pogačar’s suggestion that the race ought to be moved from its July slot due to rising temperatures, insisting that the Tour will never not take place in peak summer.
Record-breaking temperatures and heatwaves have gripped Europe throughout June and July, making conditions at the Tour extremely difficult for the peloton, roadside fans and everyone else covering the race.
Speaking after stage nine, held under 38°C sun, the race’s leader and defending champion Pogačar proposed a radical shift to combat climate change.
“If I had the power I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places. I’d do a completely different calendar, but it’s not something I can do,” he said.
But when speaking with Cycling Weekly just a few days later, the Tour’s director Christian Prudhomme said that Pogačar’s idea was a non-starter.
“For me, it’s not possible… not while I’m in charge,” Prudhomme said. “Not because I don’t want to, but because the Tour de France is July. It’s France in July.
“When France gave people paid leave in 1936, that was the start of the popularity of the Tour de France. People came out to the race on their bikes on holiday. That’s the Tour de France. It’s so much more than the biggest bike race in the world.
“It might be more difficult to understand if you’re not French, but it’s so much more than that. There are so many people here – they don’t even know what the riders’ names are, but they love the Tour. The Tour de France works even if there isn’t a French rider up the road… That social aspect is paramount. It’s what allows us to get the authorisations [from local governments to stage the race].”
Pogačar also said that he would be in favour of earlier start times. Currently, riders tend to depart between 12:30 and 14:00.
“Maybe the next step is to start the stages earlier. Yesterday there was a proposal to start at 10, but it doesn’t change anything because then you finish in the heat,” the Slovenian said.
“You need to start at eight or nine, or even before. It’s a little bit shit, but I think the body can adapt to waking up at five o’clock in the morning and doing a stage at eight.”
Pogačar would like to see major changes to cycling’s calendar
(Image credit: Getty Images)
But Prudhomme also pushed back on that idea, mostly for practical reasons, although the supposed negative impact on television figures and therefore revenues is thought to be the main reason why ASO, the race organisers, would be against early morning starts.
“The women, who were starting at 9am or 10am, asked us a few years ago to start later. And we accepted the request because we saw it to be legitimate,” Prudhomme said.
“Pogačar himself said at the Tour de Romandie that the development of women’s cycling was brilliant, but women’s races start too early.
“For stage starts, riders get up three hours before, if they’re staying locally. That’s only when we’re in a big city with lots of hotels. But to finish in big cities, it’s more and more difficult because you have to close down more roads. I’m saying this to make clear that things can’t change with a click of the fingers. There’s a lot that goes with it.”
Prudhomme was not dismissive of the impact of climate change, saying that “we’re sure of the phenomenon” and “we know it’s drawing nearer. At some point, it will be inescapable. But is that in two years? 10 years? We don’t know.”
It is clear that though the Tour is conscious of the issue, it is not yet prepared to drastically overhaul its product. Prudhomme did, however, point out some measures the Tour has taken in recent years.
“There are things that we’ve been doing for a while on the length of stages,” he said. “Stages are getting shorter; 10 years ago, you had eight or nine stages longer than 190km. This year there are two: there’s one over 200km and one over 190km.
“Next year there will be longer ones, but that’s because we’re starting in the UK. If it’s 42°C in Edinburgh then we’re in trouble.”
He continued: “When we were planning stages in the mountains, we used to want something in the open, with no trees or anything, mostly for the television pictures, but also so that spectators could come, set themselves up for the day, and watch the Tour come through four or five hairpins. Today, it’s the opposite.
“The Col du Haag, near the Grand Ballon in the Vosges, is very forested. We sought it out because it’s steep, but also because it’s forested, and that’s good for the riders. The most important thing, though, is the safety of the fans.”
