The UCI is considering cutting the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta from three weeks to two. It is one of the ideas for reforming cycling and its business model; according to DH, it would lighten the calendars and cut organisers’ costs. I read that on Sunday, coming back from the ride, a coffee still warm in my hand.
Christian Prudhomme answered RMC on Friday, during the recon of a stage of the 2027 Tour: “The Tour de France is three weeks, four weekends, and that’s just fine as it is.” Four weekends. He counts in weekends. So do I.
Because July, for me, is four Sundays. Four rides that leave at nine, twenty past nine in fact, and four returns where I put the stage on and tell myself I have ridden roads just like that. Take away a week and you take away a Sunday from me. And a Sunday is a ride, a coffee, an argument till noon about the previous day’s climb.
I did the sums on the garage table, between two bikes. Two weeks is three weekends at best. I am one coffee short. I’m not saying it matters for world cycling. I’m saying we can talk about it.
One week fewer is mostly one week fewer in the gruppetto. Nobody put that in the costs.
DH writes that changing the Tour’s format does not seem to be on the agenda, despite the UCI’s thinking. A hundred and fifty million viewers worldwide followed it this year. I’m one of them, four Sundays running, garage door open.
I have warned the club all the same. If it ever goes to two weeks, I will propose leaving at nine sharp. To compensate.
It’s true, we checked: DH Les Sports+.
