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Remco Evenepoel has signalled his opposition to the inclusion of gravel roads on the route of the 2024 Tour de France. The Belgian’s issues echo these voiced by his Soudal-QuickStep supervisor Patrick Lefevere after the course was introduced in Paris on Wednesday.
Stage 9 of subsequent yr’s Tour will function no fewer than 32.2km of gravel roads, distributed throughout 14 sections. The 199km stage round Troyes appears set to supply one of many pivotal afternoons of your complete race.
Evenepoel’s previous expertise of racing on gravel in a Grand Tour was an sad one, as he misplaced over two minutes on the highway to Montalcino on the 2021 Giro d’Italia. He additionally conceded the general lead of the 2022 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on the gravel part of the Alto Antenas del Maigmó Tibi.
Chatting with Het Laatste Nieuws, Evenepoel prompt that the gravel roads of the Champagne area didn’t belong on the Tour de France.
“Separate occasions and championships for gravel are already being organised,” Evenepoel mentioned. “Ought to gravel sections like that completely nonetheless be included in a Grand Tour or in different, regular, races? I do not actually assume it is necessary.”
Evenepoel’s group supervisor Patrick Lefevere and Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge have each additionally come out towards the inclusion of the gravel sectors within the Grand Tour, with Plugge saying that the stage is “pointless”.
“I feel it’s a bit pointless [to include gravel],” he mentioned earlier this week. “It will increase the prospect of dangerous luck. We wish the struggle to be as honest as attainable. A experience like this, for my part, doesn’t contribute to that”
Regardless of his previous travails on gravel, Evenepoel has additionally raced on the floor by selection, lining out on the Belgian Waffle Experience in Kansas within the Autumn of 2021. He additionally identified that he sometimes incorporates gravel roads in his coaching rides in Belgium.
“After I practice in Pajottenland, I generally cross over to Leuven, which isn’t that distant, and I generally dare to tackle such a gravel sector,” Evenepoel mentioned. “If you’re fortunate, the considerably free floor might be onerous, and it’ll really feel like you’re simply using on asphalt.”
Evenepoel is anticipated to make his Tour de France debut in 2024 on a route that options some 59km of time trialling, however he has additionally floated the thought of returning to the Giro d’Italia, which he deserted whereas sporting the maglia rosa in Might.
Lefevere, nonetheless, has strongly suggested Evenepoel towards trying the Giro-Tour double, significantly given his aspirations on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“He nonetheless has an account open with the Giro and he was contemplating combining the Tour and the Giro,” Lefevere instructed Sporza. “However with what comes subsequent, with the Olympic Video games, for instance, the Giro-Tour mixture doesn’t appear to be the perfect thought to me.”
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