"Time trials have the tendency to paralyze the race" - Prudhomme defense of lack of ITT kilometers in Tour de France route

22 kilometers of time-trial in 1 Tour de France. Several stage-races throughout the year will top the number of the Grand Tour, and in addition those 22 kilometers will be quite mountainous. This has brought up lots of debate on the decision, and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has justified the decisions made by the organization.

Talking to reporters after the presentation, Prudhomme said: "Time trials have the tendency to paralyze the race. I prefer to see the champions shoulder-to-shoulder from the first weekend. You all know that very well too. A shoulder-to-shoulder battle is much better than riders having their times taken one after the other."

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Profiles & Route Tour de France 2023

In a complete opposite to the Giro d'Italia, which will feature almost 70 mostly-flat kilometers, the Tour de France has created a route to be almost solely decided in the mountains. This will be to the favour of the pure climbers, and has likely taken into consideration the lack of gaps now emerging between the main stage-racers, most of which are time-trial specialists themselves (such as Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, etc).

The decision has had mixed reactions from within cycling's fan base. Whilst some argue as far as it being a shameful decision, others believe it will make the race more exciting. Opinions are subjective, and Prudhomme has shared his. "The Tour is always made for climbers, no matter what anyone says. If you can't climb well, you cannot win the Tour de France," he said. 

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"I dream of having, like 60 years ago, a true face-off between the pure rouleurs who try to hang on in the mountains and the great climbers who aren't good against the watch. That's not the case now, but it might happen again," he continued. Prudhomme has defended that an ITT-filled route has a space in the Tour de France still, but there has been a focus elsewhere in this particular edition.

"When I was little, we used to have a duality between climbers and time triallists, an opposition of styles. You'd have a Jacques Anquetil who was a super rouleur but suffered in the mountains, and then The Eagle of Toledo, Federico Bahamontes, who impacted in the mountains but lost time against the clock," Prudhomme remembered. "That's when you have to put time trials in, because the styles would balance out. Now, we're back in an attacking kind of cycling, with riders capable of winning almost anywhere."

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