Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 6:36 p.m.
It will probably be necessary to make choices between the biggest event of the year and Los Angeles.
There are still nearly four years to think about it, but it’s definitely a mess that’s coming. In 2028, the Olympic cycling events in Los Angeles are scheduled for July 14-30, a period usually reserved for the end of the Tour de France. There’s no reason or even real possibility that this could change, since all the dates of the Games would then be changed, all disciplines combined.
Prudhomme: “The date does not depend on us, it is the UCI that determines”
Christian Prudhomme is resigned in advance, as we can sense in the tone of his response to our Dutch colleagues from Wielerflits: “The date does not depend on us, it does not amuse me but it is the UCI who determines. We will see, I do not know if the Tour will take place before or after the Games…” This second possibility seems totally improbable, since it would also postpone the Vuelta (from the end of August to the beginning of September) or force the riders to choose between the two. In fact, this is already what often happens between the last two major Tours, with only a month’s gap between the arrival in France and the departure in Spain, but we imagine above all that the Tour will be slightly brought forward.
The sacrosanct national holiday of July 14th will be impacted, whatever happens, unless the UCI forces a choice between the Tour and the Games. Even if the time trial were to be postponed to around Saturday July 22nd for a road race on July 29th, and not a more classic sequence during the first week (with a time trial on the 15th and a race on the 22nd), those who would like to participate in the time trial would have to endure a huge time difference in less than a week. The last chance, in this case, could be for those who would concentrate on the road race…
