Tour de France director promises 'brawl from day one'

With the clock ticking down on the Tour de France start from Florence on Saturday race director Christian Prudhomme told AFP he was expecting an action packed 111th edition.

Prudhomme said Tuscan city Florence was the perfect launch pad for the Tour staged in the weeks before Paris hosts the Olympic Games.

"It's an exceptional platform and should produce an outright brawl from day one," he said of the four-way struggle for supremacy between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (of the Visma team), main challenger Tadej Pogacar (UAE), Belgian debutant Remco Evenepoel (Quick Step) and Slovenian veteran Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora).

"With these four competing with the back up of four different teams is amazing. The Tour has a habit of crowning the great champions and bringing new one's into the spotlight."

"Florence to Rimini with all the climbing and defending and then with the route taking us through the Apennines means the fight starts on day one," he predicted.

The 2024 edition avoids Paris and instead ends on the Riviera with a long and arduous individual time-trial which could produce a last day shake up of considerable proportions.

"Replacing Paris was a huge challenge and the usual last day race on the Champs-Elysees is a huge television draw the world over.

"So we needed a place which shines as brightly as (south coast city) Nice does, but one that also provided a sporting aspect in terms of who wins the overall title," he said.

"This stage not only has a unique backdrop between the sea and the mountains, but it will also sort out the form riders from the fading ones."

The 34km long 21st stage along what is known in France as the corniche, an ever undulating coastal run between tax haven Monaco and Riviera capital Nice.

- Unruly fans -

With over ten million roadside fans showing up each year, recent editions of the Tour have attracted a new generation of fans in a phenomena put down to the popular Netflix television documentaries.

"The new fans tend to be between 15-35 and are much more enthusiastic in their way of supporting," said Prudhomme.

"This is both good and bad and the new fans who love the Tour are going to have to accept some new measures of security.

"There will be more barriers where the sporting action is expected to be hotly contested," he said of the mountain stages which are traditionally the wildest ones.

The larger crowds and the more enthusiastic support have also contributed to accidents involving race motorbikes Prudhomme said, one last year blocking a Pogacar attack.

"There will be fewer motorbikes in the race, fewer race officials and fewer press photographers on motorbikes."

Prudhomme insisted that the world's greatest bike race must remain open to the public.

"Over 95 percent of the 3,498km of road along the 2024 route will be open access and barrier free," he said.

Along with the four days in Italy the route crosses the Alps twice with seven mountain slogs, features a first-ever race on white gravel and ends with an eye-catching individual time trial along the French Riviera on July 21.

jk/dmc/nr