Prudhomme defends a Tour de France less mountainous than the previous ones

The race director explains why he returned to a more classic courseThe director of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, at the finish of the 3rd stage in Sisteron on August 31, 2020. - Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA "There is something to do" for climbers in the Tour de France 2021, assures AFP its director Christian Prudhomme by presenting the route of the next edition less mountainous than the previous one, on a television set far from the big usual gathering at

The director of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, at the finish of the 3rd stage in Sisteron on August 31, 2020. -

Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA

"There is something to do" for climbers in the Tour de France 2021, assures AFP its director Christian Prudhomme by presenting the route of the next edition less mountainous than the previous one, on a television set far from the big usual gathering at Porte Maillot.

🤩 Here is the official # TDF2021 route!

🤩 Here is the official route of # TDF2021!

pic.twitter.com/MEoDFc2ph2

- Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) November 1, 2020

What was your first concern for this Tour?

First, take a course.

It may seem silly, but in the middle of summer, it was necessary to change almost a week after the change of dates for Euro football and the Olympics.

We found ourselves at the end of July without a Grand Départ for 2021 and I would like to sincerely thank the Brittany Regional Council which gave its agreement to bring its Grand Départ forward by one year.

With what consequences on the course?

We had to find new stages to reach the meeting point which is located in the Morvan, compared to what was initially planned.

So the first thing was to find another first week.

It is always the same state of mind, to vary as much as possible, to look for new things, such as the Signal d'Uchon before arriving at Le Creusot, to reduce the stages of the plain which we know will end. by a sprint.

But is there an unusual 248-kilometer stage?

It is the longest stage on the Tour for twenty years but with 2,000 vertical meters in the last hundred kilometers.

The day before, it was exactly the opposite in the Châteauroux stage, which was short but with 75 kilometers subjected to the wind.

The # TDF2021 will be:

🚩 3,383 km

⛰ 27 2nd, 1st or

Non-

Why have the Alps been softened?

It turns out that the Alps are the first mountain range.

The route depends a lot on the place of the Grand Départ.

The 2020 Tour starting from Nice was obviously more mountainous, we had the opportunity to go straight into the mountains.

It's the first week that makes the difference.

But it is not huge, we have 27 passes instead of 29 and we will climb higher even if the port of Envalira is not the roughest of the passes.

In the last mountain stage, anything can happen with the Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden without a valley in between.

The day before, the rise of Portet, it is not nothing.

There is plenty to do.

Did the unfolding of the 2020 Tour influence the design of the next edition?

Yes, on the number of arrivals at the top.

We could have put four, in Andorra for example.

We preferred to rely on the slopes of Betxalis which are very steep and dive on arrival in Andorra la Vella.

There is the will to ensure that the beach of greatest sporting interest is extended.

It is better to attack 12 terminals from the finish than 800 meters.

And for the time trials?

I don't want there to be three consecutive stages for sprinters.

However, when you come from Brittany, there is necessarily a series of stages in the plain.

How to break this?

by the return of a stopwatch.

Why come to Malaucène?

The idea is to show the Ventoux in all its aspects.

And it also helps to disseminate the public.

Stage 11 / Stage 11

🚩 Sorgues - Malaucène 🏁 199 km # TDF2021

The Giant of Provence is back with a double ascent on the program!

/ The Giant of Provence returns with a double climb!

pic.twitter.com/rXhJg74fFf

- Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) November 1, 2020

What message do you have about the pandemic?

Thank the organizers, mostly volunteers, who fought for their event to exist.

If the situation continues, it will be even more complicated for them, and yet their races are essential to the famous pyramid of cycling.

The Route d'Occitanie, the tours of Ain, Limousin, Poitou-Charentes, were important before the Tour.

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