Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has admitted that he was worried the proposed merger of Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep would have diminished his race as a spectacle by putting Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel on the same team.
The collapse of the plan – not to mention Primož Roglič’s transfer to Bora-Hansgrohe – instead means that the four principal contenders for the Tour will be racing on four different teams next July.
The 2024 Tour features a novel route that includes an early passage over the Col du Galibier on stage 4, but in an interview with AS, Prudhomme downplayed the idea that the race might already be over as a contest ahead of the grand finale in Nice.
“I don't think so. We’re lucky to have exceptional riders, who attack when it’s expected, but also when nobody imagines it,” Prudhomme said. “Tadej Pogačar attacked on the Champs-Elysées [in 2023]. He knew he wasn’t going to win the overall, but he was still trying.
“We had a fortnight of spectacular fighting between Pogačar and Vingegaard, and Evenepoel has said that he will make his debut in the race in 2024. What he did at the Vuelta was great: despite everything, he didn't give up.
“What did worry me a bit were the rumours about the Jumbo and Soudal merger, with Jonas and Remco in the same team. But instead, there will be four big champions – Pogačar, Vingegaard, Roglič and Evenepoel – on four different teams, which could make for a really good Tour de France.”
For the first time in history, the Tour will finish outside of the Paris area in order to avoid a clash with the Olympic Games, which get underway on July 26. The 2024 Tour will instead conclude in Nice on July 21.
The novel finale has allowed Prudhomme to place summit finishes on stage 19 at Isola 2000 and stage 20 on the Col de la Couillole, while the Tour de France route also features a time trial on the last day for the first time since Greg LeMond overhauled Laurent Fignon at the last in 1989.
The 34km course from Monaco is a demanding one, with riders climbing La Turbie and the Col d’Èze en route to the seafront finish on the Promenade des Anglais.
Prudhomme acknowledged that his ideal scenario would be a repeat of the last-gasp drama provided by Fignon and LeMond in 1989.
“We dream of that, obviously, but we don't know what the reality will be,” Prudhomme said. “In the recent past, we have seen that a time trial at the end of the Tour can change everything, like in 2020 at La Planche des Belles Filles with Pogačar and Roglič.
“It will be a tough time trial, over 30km long with 700 metres of climbing. It's a day for champions. For Tour de France champions.”
