‘Sprinters' teams are not doing themselves any favours’ - argues Tour de France route director

The Tour de France route director, Thierry Gouvenou, has criticised the lack of action in flat stages of the Tour, suggesting that sprint opportunities could be reduced in future editions of the race if the racing doesn't become more dynamic.

"For the past two to three years, the stages finishing in a bunch sprint have been quite monotonous, totally controlled by the sprinters, there's a coalition between them," Gouvenou said to reporters at the start of stage 9. "The riders don't want to attack because it's pointless, but it's intensified and it's a problem."

The criticism comes as the debate surrounding the fact that the weekend of 12-13 July features two consecutive sprint stages, and stage 8, won by Jonathan Milan, for the most part, didn't feature much action until the explosive finish in Laval. There were no initial attempts from anyone to form a breakaway, and it wasn't until the TotalEnergies duo of Mathieu Burgaudeau and Mattéo Vercher attacked with 80km remaining that there were any signs of the dynamic racing that Gouvenou hoped for. 

"It's quite sad to see a peloton doing a procession for 180km without any attacks or counterattacks. We must congratulate the courage of Team TotalEnergies yesterday, a little bit pointless, but it's part of the Tour de France," Gouvenou said, before issuing a stern warning to the sprinters' team.

"I think that the sprinters' teams aren't doing themselves any favours. In the future, we won't be able to continue to have these kinds of shows. But it won't last, because there won't be any more sprint stages in the future."

Gouvenou was then asked if this was a threat to the sprinters not to have any more sprint stages in future editions, and the Frenchman was pretty clear in his response. 

"Yeah, last year we had eight or nine, some very monotonous stages, this year we'll have around five or six, and this will be the future custom," Gouvenou replied.

Gouvenou went on to explain how including some changes, such as hills in the finale of sprint stages, can change the dynamics of racing, but in some instances, it isn't possible to incorporate these changes in a stage if the terrain isn't there.

"The first solution is to make some changes on the route," Gouvenou explained. "After last year's edition, we adjusted the route for stages that should have ended in a sprint. It was the case for Rouen (stage 4), and it will be the case for Toulouse (stage 11) as well."

"So we are going to try and have something a little more dynamic, more attacks in the finish. Sometimes there are places where we cannot find the climbs, and we can only really suggest flat stages," Gouvenou added.