Tour de France 2019: Christian Prudhomme claims the choice of "the high mountain"

Tour de France

Published on Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 17:12
| Updated 10/25/2018 at 17:33

The choice of the high mountain for the Tour de France 2019 is badumed by Christian Prudhomme, its director, who insisted on "iconic peaksOf the next edition, Thursday during the presentation of the course.

"The 2019 Tour is marked by the high mountains.
We did not want a Tour necessarily very mountainous but with iconic peaks that are very high. There is this paradox of having peaks at more than 2000 meters and also more than average mountain. For the first time, three arrivals over 2000 meters, in Tourmalet and in the two highest resorts in France, Tignes and Val Thorens. We will then be on the eve of the arrival, nothing will be decided before the penultimate stage and the 33 km climb. They are without extreme slope. But it is very long and it goes up very high.

Thirty climbs on a Tour de France is a record.
It is mainly due to the middle mountain, to the pbades of second category. There are fewer off-grade pbades than in recent years. On the other hand, the emblematic pbades, the Tourmalet, the Izoard, the Galibier, the Iseran, are seen.

But there will be little against the clock next year.
We are in the middle. Pau is hilly. It will take place on July 19, 100 years to the day after the presentation of the first Yellow Jersey to Eugene Christophe.

"If you're not a climber, you can not win the Tour"

This Tour is it traced for the French, since it has a lot of middle mountain and little time trial?
No, it's drawn for a climber. You can not win the Tour de France, if you are not a climber. There is more high mountain than other years, it is claimed in this year of the centenary of the Yellow Jersey. The element of additional uncertainty is the seven pbades over 2000 meters. We know that the physiology of athletes moves beyond 2000 meters. The super-climber at 1800 or 2000 meters will he still be a super-climber beyond? We do not know, and it suits me not to know who will or will not be promoted.

Is it discouraging for sprinters?
I was hit (this summer) by what the sprinters have done, their marked respect for the Tour. Mark Cavendish arrived at La Rosière knowing that he was going to be eliminated. Peter Sagan finished the Tour suffering a lot. There they have three stages in the first week, two in the second and two in the last. In Paris, the Champs-Elysées are the biggest meeting of the year for sprinters. "

AFP