'The only solution' - ASO defends decision to run snow-shortened Paris-Nice stage

Speaking to Daniel Benson after the finish, ASO’s Thierry Gouvenou insisted that racing the 47km route to Isola-Village was the “only” solution to the conundrum, as it balanced the safety of the riders with the commercial obligations of the race organiser. 

The planned summit finish at Auron had already been ruled out on Friday night due to the forecast for heavy overnight snow. Heavy rain on Saturday morning, meanwhile, saw the organisation remove the day’s opening climbs from the route, reducing the stage to just 47km in length. 

Even then, many of the riders at the sign-on in Nice were in favour of cancelling the stage altogether. According to Marion Rousse on France Télévisions’ coverage, 60% of riders had voted against racing, though it was eventually agreed that they would race a 47km route that featured no climbs or descents.

“I’m a former rider and when I was a rider I used to think that it was better to stay at the hotel,” Gouvenou told Daniel Benson. “Of course, but it’s important for the race and the cities. It wasn’t too hard today. Some riders asked to race because they’re used to riding and it was a good effort for tomorrow, and tomorrow we will get a super stage.”

Gouvenou outlined how ASO had been in discussions with local authorities about the safety of the route until shortly before the stage eventually got under way at 1.45pm local time. 

“I think it was the only decision,” Gouvenou said. “There were a lot of stones on the descent so we had to cut the first part of the route and then the only solution was to do the last 50km,” Gouvenou said. It wasn’t easy for the riders because of the temperature but it was acceptable.

“It was hard to make the decision today because there’s a lot of people involved and the authorities, they need to secure all the routes and it’s not easy to say yes. We only had the green light at 1pm today, a few minutes before the start.”

Gouvenou acknowledged that ASO’s commercial obligations to host towns and television broadcasters had informed the decision to continue with the stage even though the key climbs had been removed from the route. 

“With no race the organisation loses a lot, money etc,” he said. “People watching TV lose, and TV broadcasters lose as well. Then there’s nothing to show. It’s important to have at least a stage.”

French champion Dorian Godon (Ineos) won the stage in a bunch sprint ahead of Biniam Girmay (NSN). The road climbed steadily to 868m above sea level during the shortened stage, and there was snow on the roadside in the finale, which may have contributed to two crashes in the closing kilometres. Yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) said afterwards that his preference would have been to place the finish line 10km or so further down the valley to avoid the snow altogether. 

“They’re always crashing,” Gouvenou said. “There are always crashes. It was a bit nervous but the GC is almost done.”

Vingegaard’s teammate Victor Campenaerts highlighted how anxious the closing kilometres had been, but he conceded that the shortened stage had worked as a compromise.

“There was a bit of melting snow. If you had to brake, you were a sitting duck. It’s good that we didn’t have to ride any further uphill,” Campenarts told Sporza, adding that racing had been the correct decision. “To the extent that it was possible, yes. I think that as a team we also tried to keep it safe by making a statement that they shouldn’t go too crazy [at the start].”

Cees Bol (Decathlon-CMA CGM) placed third on the stage, and while the Dutchman accepted that the conditions had been just about within reason, he was disappointed that the riders ultimately had no real say in whether the stage went ahead or not.

“It was a nervous day. In the end, it was quite ok, but with the snow, if it had been a little bit worse, it could have been super dangerous,” Bol told CyclingPro.net.

“It’s not so nice that our health is at stake. In the end it’s not the riders who made the decision if we should race or not, and that’s not great.” 

Bol’s directeur sportif Luke Rowe, however, commended ASO for managing to hold a stage. He also felt that the stage finish couldn’t have been brought forward from Isola-Village for logistical reasons.

“Honestly it might be not the most popular opinion, but I think the organisation did a great job today,” Rowe told Danish broadcaster TV2. “Now stepping into the DS role, I always try to put myself in the riders’ shoes and have the best outcome for them, but I think it was a great compromise.

“I know there was also some discussion about where we finished, but the only criticism would be that they could have taken the GC times earlier. They can’t move the finish, I think the riders have to realise that. They’ve got the timing set up there, so they can’t move that at the last minute, but if they had moved GC cut-off to 5 or 7k to go, that would have been the icing on the cake. But it was a safe finale.”