“All stages have their place in the Tour de France" - Race Director Christian Prudhomme responds to criticism of gravel on route of 2024 edition

One of the most eye-catching parts of the 2024 Tour de France presentation was the reveal of gravel on stage 9 and it's fair to say, it hasn't been a universally well-received decision.

Richard Plugge suggested Gravel World Champion, Matej Mohoric "needs to get his rainbow jersey out of the closet," in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reaction to the route, whilst the likes of Patrick Lefevere also raised concerns, saying, "You can not win the Tour there but you can lose it.”

In response to these criticisms though, the Race Director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme has emphatically defended the decision to include gravel, citing past editions of the race which show it has a place in cycling's biggest race.

“All stages have their place in the Tour de France – the cobbled stages, the stages with climbs, the stages with descents, the stages for the sprinters, the mountain stages… they’re all part of the Tour,” Prudhomme tells GCN. “When you look at the images of Jacques Anquetil in the 1960s, you see the roads, they don’t really look like roads, they look exactly like the gravel tracks of today. Around 50 gravel tracks were visited by former riders of the Tour, as part of Thierry Gouvenou’s team, so it was former riders who chose the sectors.”