PARIS: A day after completing the Paris-Nice stage race, Remco Evenepoel stayed in the region to prepare for the final stage of the Tour de France, which also ends in Nice this year. The 24-year-old has long been seen as a potential winner of the Tour de France, but even if it doesn’t happen this year, the world time trial champion will at least be hoping to finish the race with a bang.
Due to the Paris Olympics, the Tour avoids the French capital for the first time in its 121-year history, ending instead on the Riviera with a spectacular time trial along the winding Corniche between Monaco and Nice. “We started in Monaco and saw the first climb twice,” explained Klaas Lodewyck, Sporting Director of the Evenepoel Soudal Quick-Step team.
“Then we saw several descents that were similar to the one from Sunday’s Paris-Nice stage, but today we could discover more in better weather,” he said, referring to the heavy rain that accompanied the Paris-Nice race on the last day of the year, where Evenepoel finished second.
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“It’s a nice time trial but very challenging, even more so when the last day of the Tour comes. It will be a beautiful race against a spectacular backdrop,” he said. “A lot of teams were there looking at the track as well, so we know the others will be well prepared and it will be a great race in July.
It was a very useful day. The Tour de France had never finished outside of Paris before and organizers wanted something special to replace it, and the Riviera city of Nice was a popular choice among the cycling community. “It’s hard to replace Paris, so what better scenery could we provide than the dazzling time trial from Monaco to Nice,” Christian Prudhomme said at the route’s unveiling in October.
The Tour kicks off from Florence, Italy, on June 29 and features four high-altitude destinations as it crosses the Alps twice and squeezes in two time trials, including a potentially dramatic final from Monaco to Nice on July 21. The final stage evokes memories of the 1989 Tour, when American Greg LeMond started a rare final-day time trial 50 seconds behind French leader Laurent Fignon and eventually won the race by eight seconds.
