Has the Tour de France lost its luster?

“), “filter”: “nextException”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContentException”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, ao-button” }”>

Saint-Amand-Montrond, France (Velo) – The Tour de France began on Tuesday with the same dull repetition that everyone saw too much of in this year’s edition.

The peloton rode the 187.3 km 10th stage from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond side by side without any significant attempts to separate by riders or teams.

No attack, no separation, no action. What’s going on?

Jayco-AlUla’s Matt White explained, “There are so many sprint teams that the reality of a breakaway on a flat stage is very rare.” Velo, “You’re better off conserving your energy for when it counts.”

And a lot of that is happening on this tour.

Perhaps it is merely anecdotal, but this year’s Tour has seen at least four stages contested without any break-aways or a few riders trying to slip away.

The opening two stages and Sunday’s gravel epic delivered thrilling breakaway victories that have been one of the highlights of the 2024 Tour, but in the flatter transition stages when breaks usually least enliven the action, the peloton was in siesta mode. Is.

Things finally picked up on Tuesday for a thrilling bunch final won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceaninck), but nothing else happened in the last four hours.

“There are a lot of sprinter teams here so I think the riders know there are whole teams to set up the mass sprinters,” said Biniyam Girmay of Intermarché–Vanti, a two-time stage winner. “When you see all the teams moving forward, you know the breakaway will be tough to win.”

When running fast seems destined to happen, why try?

Until now, not many people have been willing to light a match in vain.

It’s a scene that was repeated in Stages 3, 6, 8 and then Stage 10 on Tuesday.

Hardly anyone would want to see such racing.

‘TV breakaways are dead’

Ironically, this desert of racing action comes as the entire stage is being broadcast live on TV from start to finish.

In olden times, breakaways were a part of the structure of any Tour de France stage.

Even if everyone knows that the chances of survival for a skier who leaves the line are almost zero, riders and teams will still try to at least perform well.

In fact, these destructive efforts even had a name – the tv breakaway,

Its purpose was to show the team sponsor’s colors to millions of viewers around the world.

There was money in the exposure bank for sponsors to write down the team’s budget.

It seems those days are long gone.

“The TV breakaway is over,” Cofidis boss Cédric Vasseur said. Velo, “Those are the old days of racing.

“If you’re missing out on good results in the second half of the Tour, maybe you’ll start seeing more of these TV breakaways to show off the sponsors a little bit,” Vasseur said. “TV breakaways don’t give you much. Your family may be happy to see you on TV, but that’s all.

Time has changed.

Teams don’t just want publicity. They want to win. And winning at this level is harder than ever. In reality, most teams and riders may have only one chance for victory.

Therefore, no one is ready to spend bullets when he knows that he will not get any reward for it.

Even a team like Vasseur, a traditional stage-hunter at the Tour, is targeting the GC with Guillaume Martin and the sprint with Brian Coquard.

“Today we have a different approach to cycling, and we want to win,” Vasseur said. “And to win, we need to be united as a team.”

‘Big breaks are coming’

Yet when a sprint seems inevitable, riders and teams usually at least try to perform well, if nothing else.

not this year.

There are a few factors behind the lack of breakaway at some of these transition stages.

Firstly, the terrain is not ideal for avoiding riders on flat, sloping terrain. Without any big hills or even crosswinds, conditions are not ripe for separation.

And a relatively higher number of teams are bringing sprinters to victory stages at this year’s Tour. With teams racing for a chance to win a stage in a mass gallop, everyone knows the break is unfortunate.

“When you know it’s going to be a fast race, and it sucks a little bit,” Vasseur explained. Velo, “You can’t run full-gas for four hours for nothing. To go into a breakaway you must have a slight chance of winning.

There are also many big GC teams that don’t want to see a stage unravel too far out of control.

Teams like UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers and Wisma-Lease A Bike are also helping to keep some riders at the front to keep their captains out of trouble who essentially set the high pace.

And the fact that teams now only have eight starters instead of nine is another contributing factor.

With almost every team packing either a GC rider or a sprinter, there aren’t a lot of extra legs to send down the road for a break without any hope.

“There are so many teams with a GC or sprinter that we tell everyone to be around these guys,” Vasseur explained. Velo, “If you’re isolated you get tired and you can’t do a good job as leaders.”

Lots of riders have clearly tried to pull through, including King of the Mountain rider Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), but without a rated climb on the menu, he too was quiet on Tuesday.

Yet everyone agrees that the ceasefire will end in the breakaway countries.

“Big breaks are coming,” White said. “Wednesday is a good day for breakaways, and I think last week will be full of breakaways. The GC will be more organized and people who have been separated will have more opportunities to get a chance.

Siesta-mode is over. Sparks will fly tomorrow.