Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme expressed hope that Remco Evenepoel will make his debut in Race 2024which will culminate in a hilly individual time trial between Monaco and Nice.
Evenepol opted to race the Giro d’Italia this year, apparently attracted by a noticeably higher proportion of time trial kilometers, but preliminary reports suggest he may like the 2024 Tour route better.
This year’s Tour includes just 22km of time trials, a number already surpassed by the 35km test scheduled for the final stage in 2024, which will take riders through La Turbie and the Col d’Eze before crashing into Nice.
Read more
The 2024 Tour de France will end with a 35km time trial over hilly terrain to Nice
Remco Evenepoel breaks Mount Teide Strava records during training camp
Analysis: Remco Evenepoel’s UAE Tour win matters, but Catalonia is the real Giro test
In addition to finishing outside of Paris for the first time in its history, this means the Tour will end in a time trial for the first time since Greg LeMond so dramatically stripped Laurent Fignon of his yellow in 1989.
Prudhomme also noted that the event would take place on the Belgian National Day, 21 July, and that Evenepoel, at 24, would be the same age as Eddy Merckx when he competed and won his debut Tour in 1969.
“Of course we would be happy if Remco Evenepoel was at the start of the Tour in Florence next year,” Prudhomme said. Newspaper. “Touring with Remco at the start would have been even more interesting. And I also remind you that next year the reigning world champion will be the same age as Merckx was in 1969. Eddie was also 24 years old… We really hope that he will start in Florence. We would be very happy. We are waiting for him.”
The 2024 tour will end in Nice on July 21st due to the logistical requirements of the Olympics, which will start in Paris five days later. Details of the last two stages of the race were made public at a presentation in Nice on Monday.
The penultimate stage will be a short but challenging stage in the Nice hinterland, with the Col de Brause, Col de Turini and Col de la Colmiane, leading up to the finish at the top of the Col de la Cuyol, which was the Paris-Nice final. last weekend. Stage 132 km includes about 4400 m of total climb.
“We had another big city rushing to finish the Tour, but we just have a historical connection with Nice,” Prudhomme said. “We had the start of the Tour there in 2020, but due to the pandemic, it went without a lot of spectators. Now a unique event in the history of the Tour will take place on the Cote d’Azur.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
