2023-07-04 08:00:00
It’s a strange finish that awaits the runners this Tuesday, July 4 in Nogaro. A series of big bends and a wide 800m straight. Welcome to the cars of the peloton. And for good reason: they will tumble onto the Paul-Armagnac racing circuit in the small town of Gers. Health to the sprinters therefore, who will have to adapt. “We lack benchmarks, the impression of speed is much lower and it’s a bit complicated to manage”explains Bryan Coquard, the Cofidis team sprinter.
What wouldn’t they do, the promoters of the Tour, to spice up these ends of the race and these flat crossings, which they do not like to see wandering around until a grouped and massive conclusion? “This type of stage has been padlocked for too long by the sprinters’ teams, nothing was happening, and we don’t want this trouble as an organizer anymore”assures Thierry Gouvenou, who draws the route of the Grande Boucle every year.
Bad news for specialists? “They still have six or seven opportunities to shine in this 2023 edition.continues the technical director of Amaury Sport Organization (ASO). It is not a question of putting an end to this playground, but of avoiding repetitions and better distributing these dedicated stages over the three weeks of the event. » However, it is not a very buoyant current that has been pushing sprinters for a few years.
On the Tour as elsewhere, smooth stage profiles are becoming rarer. A Freddy Maertens triumphing eleven times in the sprint on the Tour of Spain in 1977 or an Alessandro Petacchi devouring nine of the ten flat stages on that of Italy in 2004 belong well and truly to another time. On this 110th hexagonal edition, many teams have not reserved a place in their bus for the masters of speed, like Groupama-FDJ depriving itself of Arnaud Démare, to the great despair of the latter. .
Question of choice and strategy. “We have favored multi-map runners who should allow us to compete with the best in the mountains”, assumes manager Marc Madiot. The French formation AG2R Citroën is on the same line. “A sprinter can no longer win alone, he really needs teammates to propel him, and in a team of only eight members, finding a balance is not easy”, explains Nicolas Guillé, the team’s sports director.
The Belgian collective Intermarché-Circus-Wanty did not hesitate to bet big on the Eritrean Biniam Girmay for his first on the Tour, however, asked to repeat the same winning move as on the Giro in 2022. “The team is actually built above all for this mission, and we have recruited in this directionconfirms its sporting director, Pieter Vanspeybrouck. You really need several riders to be on the train today, to put your sprinter in the best possible position at the ideal time. » A burst of energy and also a number of tightrope walking. “Especially since the level today is getting tighter and tighter and you really have to fight,” judge Mark Cavendish, who is approaching his last Big Loop at the age of 38 with the firm intention of establishing alone – at 35 units – the record for stage victories, which he still shares with Eddy Merckx.
But other factors intervene to further limit the expression of sprinters. Urban topography in particular. “The developments are making our massive arrivals in city centers more and more complexemphasizes Thierry Gouvenou. Let’s take the example of Bordeaux for our seventh stage on Friday: to reach the city from the south, we only found one possibility that respected our safety requirements when 170 runners tumbled down at 70 km/h. » Paradoxically, the development of cycle paths seriously complicates the deal by narrowing the roadway. “If this continues, we may have to look elsewhere tomorrow,” regrets the technical director.
Race strategies, finally, also turn the lives of sprinters upside down. “Every day, the attacks fuse, the breakaways multiply, and the leaders do not hesitate to go to war in the transition stages either.analyzes Bryan Coquard. So the windows of opportunity are shrinking for us. We have to adapt, get over the bumps better, work harder and harder. » Sprinter? A job to reinvent.
#race #sprinters