"It's not really gravel, it's really big stones" - Julie De Wilde speaks from experience about controversial Tour de France gravel sectors
Cycling
With the route and profile of the 2024 Tour de France now fully known, one of the main talking points has been stage 9 and the sectors of gravel included on the stage, something which not everyone is a fan of.
The likes of Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge, Soudal - Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere and BORA - hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk have all raised concerns about the prospect of gravel, with the main idea being that whilst you can't win the Tour on those sectors, something as simple as an untimely puncture could lose you the race.
"It's not really gravel, it's really big stones," says Julie De Wilde in conversation with Sporza, speaking from experience having crashed on the gravel during the 2022 Tour de France Femmes. "Some of the stones were as big as my palm. You'd have to be lucky not to hit one badly. It was a lot of fun, until I had a puncture. I kept riding until the end of the lane to change bikes, but by then I was already hopelessly behind."
"In retrospect, I would opt for wider tires, like the ones they use in Paris-Roubaix," continues De Wilde, offering the riders some advice. "The chance that you will have a puncture is relatively high, so tubeless seems to me to be the appropriate choice. If the hole is not too big, you can continue driving and change on a less difficult part."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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🔎 A look at some of the gravel roads of stage 9. Here is the Chemin de Baroville, 2nd sector of the day. 🔎 Un œil sur certains des chemins blancs au programme de l’étape 9 du #TDF2024, avec ici le Chemin de Baroville, 2eme des 14 secteurs du jour.
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