As is the case whenever a Grand Tour incorporates an “off-road” section into its course, opinion is divided on the Tour de France’s gravel-heavy ninth stage in Troyes.
The race has notably visited the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix in the past and also included the gravel roads of the Plateau des Glières, but Sunday’s stage marked the race’s most gravel-heavy day to date.
The pack put all their energy into tackling the 32.3km “white road” that was spread across the 199km stage. There were no major changes in the overall standings on this day, won by Anthony Targis, but there were still strong opinions about gravel from riders and team staff.
Also making waves in the race was points leader and Stage 2 winner Biniam Ghirmay, the Eritrean classics star who was part of a group chasing the main breakaway in an attempt to gain more green jersey points and potentially win the stage.
He finished the day in ninth place, extending his points lead to six points after he and Mathieu van der Poel were unable to overtake Turgis’ group. Despite the solid result, he was less positive about the gravel roads, saying the stage was quite different to what he had seen on paper beforehand.
“Today was different to what was written in the profile,” said Ghirmay. “On paper I expected it to be a gravel race, but the climbs were really steep and the sectors were different to when I scouted them a few months ago.”
“I was expecting around 40-50 people to arrive but I was surprised, especially after the first two sectors and when I got to the intermediate sprint, where there was a real wall of climbing.”
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“I found myself in an uncomfortable place today,” he added. “I thought: ‘OK, maybe I can survive’ but then every sector, every last kilometre, I felt really bad. But I just wanted to get as many points as possible. I wasn’t able to get back into the front group but at least I managed to get a couple of points before the rest day.”
Race leader Tadej Pogacar was also vocal in favour of gravel racing – the Slovenian, of course, has won titles in Strade Bianche and Jaen Paraíso Interior – and after the stage he explained why he attacked so many times that day: “I think it’s because I love gravel racing. It’s in my nature, I think.”
Another voice against gravel was a teammate of Pogacar’s rival for the yellow jersey, Remco Evenepoel. Belgian classics specialist Yves Lampaert is used to this type of racing, even if he’s more likely to race on the cobbles of Flanders than on gravel roads.
Echoing Mr Ghirmay’s comments, he said: Newsletter, After the stage, the race profile did not show the extremely steep climb the peloton experienced, but the gravel road Stellato Of Strade Bianche.
“The approach to the sectors was like riding the Koppenberg – so steep,” Lampaert said, “so I started each sector with sore legs. I put out huge watts and still didn’t make it to the sector. That says it all. This was a classic, really.”
“The sectors were a bit too close together and there was too much gravel. In Strade Bianche the gravel was harder and you could even see tyre marks from your car. Here the gravel is looser. It’s all about luck. You have to rely on it to avoid getting unlucky or being lined up behind someone who doesn’t have control of the bike. Today it was a bit too much for me.”
Klaas Lodewijk, one of the sporting directors who oversees Evenepoel and Lampaert on this year’s Tour de Soudal-QuickStep, was also surprised by the condition of the gravel.
“The last six sectors were just raised gravel roads,” he said.[The organisers] It’s man-made. I think that’s a shame and dangerous, because it would be a big surprise to almost everyone who looked into it.”
Team principal Patrick Lefebvre has previously been strongly opposed to the inclusion of such roads in Grand Tours, and criticised them again in a newspaper column last week – a view broadly agreed with Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe sports director Rolf Aldag, who spoke after the stage.
“I still don’t like the Grand Tours. I love watching them, but unfortunately I’m not in the stands, I’m part of the race,” Aldag said. “A lot of money is invested in the team and you don’t want to leave it to chance. If Remco slipped in sector eight and broke his collarbone, would I still enjoy watching it? Or would I say, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t watch it’?”
“Alexander Vlasov crashed hard, but nothing similar happened on other stages. That’s why I think we should leave the race to the experts. If we feel like it, why not try to do the race with experts in the future, like we did with Paris-Roubaix or Strade Bianche?”
But Aldag admitted it was an entertaining race, with yellow jersey contenders Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar exchanging attacks within the pack and then battling it out for the stage win.
“From a spectator point of view, it was very impressive to see what Tadej was doing and how Visma reacted. It’s definitely entertaining, so I can see why people say they like it.”
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