Cycling is, in it's past few years, seemingly grown in popularity, and several of it's main figures are also becoming superstars. Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France and part of ASO, is thrilled to witness this change after some less popular figures of the past.
"We can wish to have the most exciting, the most sparkling, the most breathtaking season. Otherwise, and here I'm going to say it in a much more serious way, what we want is not to experience the tragedy of a Gino Mäder last year, of course," Prudhomme told Cyclism'Actu. "Because a fatal accident on the road, whether it is a rider or a child knocked down, is the negation of everything we can do."
Prudhomme has talked about several of the key subjects such as the upcoming Tour de France, OneCycling, but also brings forward excitement for the spectacle that awaits the ASO-ran events: "In addition, there will be a tremendous rise in strength for us, with a great field at Paris-Nice and the debut of Remco Evenepoel in a road event in France, against Roglic. He had never before raced as a professional rider in a French road stage race."
"And then the Dauphiné, where there will be Evenepoel, Roglic, and Vingegaard, and finally the Tour with Pogacar in addition. We are therefore going to have an exceptional year on paper, with the addition of course of the Olympic Games in Paris." Then the Tour de France is set to have all the big Grand Tour riders present to fight for the yellow jersey.
However, it is the change in attitude and willingness to race for victories all year long that assures Prudhomme of cycling's current popularity and excitement. "I am absolutely delighted that we are seeing the champions again from March to October. Like in my childhood, where Eddy Merckx was there from Paris-Nice and Milano-Sanremo until the Tour of Lombardy. We found exceptional champions like that."
"See a Pogacar fight from the start to the end of the season, see an exceptional Van der Poel and Van Aert, see a Vingegaard who still rides a lot of races... Look at the podium from Paris-Nice last year. We have champions who no longer start a race just to do miles in training, and I really love that," he concluded.
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