In a recent interview on French television, the Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme returned to discuss the characteristics that a special race like the Grande Boucle must have, to continue maintaining high interest. The Tour de France is the third most followed sporting event in the world, only behind the Olympics and the Football World Cup. We're talking about emotions, spectacle, and protagonists, three ingredients that must never be missing in the yellow race, because if even one of these elements were to be lacking, you would already be starting at a disadvantage.

"When we started creating the Tour de France 2026 route, we thought that every country would want to have its own champion, and for this reason we decided to give each stage some characteristics that would suit multiple riders."

So, as had already been said in October, this will not be Pogacar's Tour, and there will not be opportunities only for the most well-known riders. Certainly, there will always be favorites from the first day, but the intent is to guarantee a more open race, so that the public continues to be excited.

"In any case, it's a route designed to be truly gripping, conceived so that whoever wears the yellow jersey, whoever the leader is, whatever their advantage 48 hours from the finish line, cannot say they have won."

Thus, we will have a Tour de France in thriller mode where only at the end will we discover who the winner is. In his interview, Prudhomme wanted to emphasize that one must never forget the spectacle created when the Tour de France is happening and how the public becomes a protagonist through their passion and enthusiasm.

"There is still the greatest champion of all time, Eddy Merckx, obviously, and at the moment no one is like him and no one is loved and respected like him. We do not create specific routes for this or that cyclist. We try to see through the eyes of cycling enthusiasts, whether they are journalists, organizers, or simple fans, and for this reason, we want a route that maintains suspense until the end. Perhaps in the end, but I'm not a fortune-teller, the winner instead of having a 3-minute advantage, will have a 6-minute lead, I don't know, or perhaps who was in command will no longer be so. We work an entire year to build the Tour, and when the race arrives in Paris, the day after we immediately start drawing another Tour. I think what makes this race truly unique is the passion of those working behind the scenes, of the great champions who want to return to win, and of the public that fills the streets at every passage of the race. Because we must all remember: what would the Tour be without its magnificent public?"