{"id":160116,"date":"2017-07-18T13:49:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T13:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=160116"},"modified":"2017-07-18T13:49:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T13:49:48","slug":"two-people-planned-tour-de-france-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/18\/two-people-planned-tour-de-france-route\/","title":{"rendered":"How Two People Planned the Tour De France Route"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 3,500 kilometres long, it\u2019s divided into 21 stages and spread over 3 weeks, and it crosses several international borders. What is it? We\u2019re just kidding. Those are, of course, the parameters of the Tour de France, and if you didn\u2019t know, every single meter of the route was selected by just two people. Every October the Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme unveils the next year\u2019s route with his only partner in crime, Thierry Gouvenou, sitting beside him. Who are they and how do they manage to plan every stage of the biggest cycling event of the year by themselves?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tour needs a makeover<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Prudhomme became the director in 2007, the Tour was stuck in a very predictable format, tainted by an increasing numbers of doping scandals. It was time to make some serious changes. The new director strengthened the anti-doping efforts but, perhaps more importantly, decided to turn his attention to the route itself to give fans something new and exciting and to challenge the riders. Thankfully, he is not alone in the effort.<\/p>\n

\n
\"tour-de-france-back-day-check-10-historical-photographs-grande-boucle\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n

Tour de France Back in the Day: Check Out 10 Historical Photographs of the Grande Boucle<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

A two-man team for the job<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Prudhomme, a former TV journalist, is no stranger to spotlight and controversy. He has connections, experience, and the overarching vision of what he wants the Tour to be. Thierry Gouvenou complements him very well as he is a former pro journeyman and loves to work in the trenches, giving life and texture to Prudhomme\u2019s vision. The director determines the major host cities and Gouvenou then has to find the specific roads that connect those dots.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Duesseldorf’s Mayor Thomas Geisel and the director of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, photographed during a press conference in Duesseldorf, Germany, 30 June 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Transition stages revamped<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It quickly became apparent that the biggest difference can be made in transition stages. They used to be mostly predictable flats, with not much going on from the spectators\u2019 point of view. Prudhomme decided to add punchy uphill finales, varied terrain, and even pav\u00e9. Suddenly, it was not all about the sprinters and the spectators loved it.<\/p>\n

\n
\"world-class-cyclists-special-diets-chris-froome\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Health & Training<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n

World Class Cyclists & Special Diets \u2013 Chris Froome<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Mapmaking<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Once the general framework was done, Gouvenou started looking for the specific roads, climbs, and sprint locations. He uses new technology as much as possible, not just predictable tools like GPS and Google Earth but even Strava to discover new roads and climbs. But even with those he always goes out on the roads himself. He spends numerous weeks traveling and, by September, has driven the following year\u2019s finalized route in its entirety.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Thierry Gouvenou gives a press conference to present the 2016 Paris-Nice route on December 17, 2015 in Versailles outside Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A military operation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Every candidate city and finish line also has to be inspected to make sure it can handle the stress of hosting the Tour. It\u2019s not just the peloton of 200 riders, the entourage tops 5000 people and there are about 250 accompanying \u0160koda cars. The behind the scenes consists of 400 to 500 technicians and up to 20 kilometres of fibre optic cable that need to be laid each day for the TV and the press rooms. Each finish needs about 10,000 m2 (2.5 acres) of space, it often resembles a military operation more than a sporting event.<\/p>\n

\n
\"interesting-stages-2017-tour-de-france\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n

Interesting Stages of the 2017 Tour de France<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

When it\u2019s finished<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When October rolls round, Prudhomme and Gouvenou are ready to present their work, as Gouvenou once said: \u201cDesigning the route each year is a big challenge, but when we see the riders commenting that it looks hard, we know we did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 3,500 kilometres long, it\u2019s divided into 21 stages and spread over 3 weeks, and it crosses several international borders. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":160119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[845,1169],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-160116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-tdf","tag-tour-de-france-2017"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Two People Planned the Tour De France Route - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s 3,500 kilometres long, it\u2019s divided into 21 stages and spread over 3 weeks, and it crosses several international borders. What is it? 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