Thierry Gouvenou admits "it's a gamble" to have a stage 21 time-trial at the Tour de France: "Because what happened in 1989, it was unimaginable"

The route and profile of the 2024 Tour de France has now been revealed and for the first time in the race's long and storied history, it will finish outside Paris, with an individual time-trial in Nice.

“It’s a gamble, we’re not sure it’s a winner," says the man behind the design of the 111th edition of cycling's most famous race, Thierry Gouvenou in conversation with Cyclism'Actu. "Because what happened in 1989 (Greg Lemond's iconic victory over Laurent Fignon ed.), it was unimaginable. We are not immune to having the same thing."

"We just have to remember the Planche des Belles Filles, where Pogacar knocked down Roglic, when we thought the Tour was over," Gouvenou continues. "So the time-trial has the power to cast doubt until the last moment, especially since this time is difficult."

Arguably the most controversial part of the Tour de France race route however is the inclusion of gravel on stage 9. “We have wanted to put gravel since 2016. We really wanted to put some on the Epernay stage in 2019, but we hadn't found the paths that suited us, it was too dangerous," Gouvenou explains. "We started to integrate them with the Tour de France Femmes in 2022. We were on the ground many times, we revised our plans, since at the beginning it was not Troyes-Troyes which was planned, but it was ultimately best to take the better passages, because we were very attentive to the quality of the paths."