RADSPORT-Tour de France: Die Anti-Pogačar-Tour

The North French Lille is ready for the Tour de France. A two -floor yellow jersey is already installed at the Grand Place of the starting site. Christian Prudhomme, head of the tour and graduate of the journalist school in Lille, already said in the local media that he was firmly convinced that the northern French on Saturday will provide a passionate start. His namesake Christian Poiret, head of the department, is already rubbing his hands because of the expected income.

“In Bilbao, where the tour started in 2023, the additional revenue has been given to more than 100 million euros,” said Poiret – and thus defended the expenditure of 1.75 million euros for each stage. 1.4 million go directly to tour hosts ASO, 350,000 euros are balanced as expenses for logistics. The 28,000 police officers and firefighters do not cause any costs, which block the course and provide the French state free of charge.

Mythical climbs and a week for the sprinter

They guard a course that has many traditional elements: mythical climbs such as the Provence giant Mont Ventoux or Hautacam in the Pyrenees. You can also recognize the awareness that the first week is primarily reserved for the sprinters. Men like the Eritrean Biniam Girmay or the Belgian Jasper Philipsen are not just fighting for stage wins and the green jersey. You can also drive around yellow in the first few days. “Yes, we are aiming for Biniam,” said Girmay’s racing team Intermarché – Wanty.

However, the fact that the sprinters have so much space triggers worries with the non -sprinters. “It will be chaos on the first stages,” warned Tiesj Benoot from Team Visma – Lease a Bike. »In 2021 we started in Brittany and there were many mass falls. I remember 120 men lying on the streets, «said the Belgian. Early stages with more mountains such as 2024 at the Grand Depart in Florence or in 2023 in Bilbao, the team companion of the two-time tour winner Jonas Vingegaard is safer. Because on a more selective course, the contours of the overall classification are much faster – and fewer drivers would be stormed from the prospect of yellow to more struggle and more risky.

Three fear mountains for Tadej Pogačar

With the yellow offer to the Sprinter, however, the tour organizers also want to prevent the greatest danger in their perspective: that from the beginning there is boredom because top favorite Tadej Pogač gets yellow early and then does not give up-as in the past year, when the fourth stage happened. This is exactly why there are mostly flat sections, partly with smaller hills, only interrupted by the also flat time trial of the fifth stage and the classic cracker on the “Wall of Brittany” on day seven.

Anti-pogacar route planning even affects the mountains. There, the organizers chose the climbs in which the three-time tour winner had shown weaknesses in the past: Hautacam, for example, on the twelfth stage, where the Slovenian 2022 was skillfully taken by Vingegaard and its Belgian teammate Wout van Aert. On Mont Ventoux (16th stage) Pogačar Vingegaard 2021 had to let. And at the Col de la Loze, which will be passed on the 18th stage, he lost almost six minutes against the Danes, which is unleashed, in 2023.

However, Pogačar cannot be intimidated. “Maybe the organizers want to get me so much by selecting the three mountains in which I was not excellent. But they only pour oil into the fire, «he commented on the course. After an excellent training camp at the Isola 2000 ski station, the 26-year-old was confident of victory: »The preparation was almost perfect, everything went very smoothly and the atmosphere in the team is great. That gives me great self -confidence. “

Yellow tickets provide discussions before the tour

An innovation away from the route are the yellow cards, which are now also distributed on the tour to drivers that hinder other drivers, especially in the mass sprint. The disposal of bottles in the wrong place, disrespect against the racing commissioners or the cheering of the victory of a team companion can also lead to sanctions. So far, this has not had a major impact. Because two yellow cards lead to immediate exclusion during a race, there is a new tension moment. “The outcry becomes great when the first driver is sent home by a Grand Tour,” Ralph Denk, team boss of Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe, said shortly before the start of this 112nd tour of France over 3338.8 kilometers.

The fourth edition of the Tour de France of women also starts in July, on the last men’s weekend, July 26, and leads over nine stages from Brittany to the Alps.