"Gravel for sure belongs" - World Tour pro makes an argument for inclusion of gravel stages in Grand Tours

Gravel roads were the bread and butter of Grand Tours when they were first created, naturally due to the different time period in Europe. But as the decades went by, road racing moved almost 100% towards tarmac roads, and the so-called 'off-road' sections are now used as obstacles, to make racing more exciting and challenging in modern racing. Some riders oppose its use in the Grand Tours citing the risks, others believe it belongs in them, such as Mikkel Honoré.

“It is a difficult one. The gravel adds a lot of unpredictability and drama to a Grand Tour," Honoré argued in the Domestique Hotseat podcast. "But it is also sad to see a big GC leader have a flat tyre and lose his whole Grand Tour after months, even a year, of preparation.”

The EF Education-EasyPost rider understands both sides, but naturally, as a classics rider, he is also inclined into looking towards the benefits as it provides him with more opportunities in some of the world's biggest races, whilst he doesn't run the risk of losing the overall classification as he is not a climber.

Take Team Visma | Lease a Bike's CEO Richard Plugge, who was very critical of the 2024 Tour de France's gravel stage: "A stage like that doesn’t belong in the Tour. I agree with Patrick Lefevere. Why would you bring back the unlucky factor in the Tour with a gravel stage? I think the Tour is capable of creating fantastic stages, so I don’t need that gravel stage." So how do you get it right? 

"If organizers find the right balance, it belongs for sure in the Grand Tours as well," is the Dane's answer. "I did the Roubaix stage in the Tour in 2022, and it was super cool. And the same this year, the gravel stage, I have done it a couple of times now because it has been quite a lot in the Giro the last few years. It is part of it.”

Honoré was present at the 'mini Roubaix' of the 2022 Tour de France, and also the 'mini Strade Bianche' at this year's Giro d'Italia, where he supported Richard Carapaz. On that day, Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso both crashed, and this led to the eventual withdrawal of both within a week. It was also the day that Isaac del Toro broke through and took the pink jersey, it was ultimately an absolutely key stage of the race.

“You have to take a step back and think about what makes cycling cool and good for spectators. I am not talking about crashes, but unpredictability and drama are what make it interesting to watch," Honoré argues, and he believes that having gravel sectors in stages is part of the spectacle. "That is what makes us love cycling, it is not always the strongest who wins.”

“The gravel for sure belongs, without doing anything super crazy, nothing more than what we did in the Giro this year," he says however, "which was basically a Strade Bianche type stage.”