UCI points for breakaway riders

The issue really came to a head on stages ten and 11, when – after a mountain stage packed with thrills and spills to Chambery on stage nine – racing resumed after the first rest day with two tedious, formulaic days of racing.

Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) got in the break on the first of those two stages – a largely flat, 178km run from Perigueux to Bergerac – and his frustration was palpable post-stage.

He was filmed on the team bus, sarcastically applauding QuickStep Floors’ rivals for helping them tee up another Marcel Kittel sprint win, by chasing his and Elie Gesbert’s breakaway down.

And in an interview with the Cycling Podcast his frustration post-stage was still evident – the stage was boring for spectators, he said in no uncertain terms – and the Frenchman called for changes to entice riders into the breakaway.

Primes

Along the same lines, putting up greater rewards for getting in the breakaway will entice more riders up the road. Primes, common in criterium races, could be one answer. How about, in a nod to the club run or local chaingang, town sign sprints with palpable rewards?

Being a host town or village for the Tour de France is a big deal, and if one or two along the route are nominated as primes, with prize money on offer, then there will be more action along the route, besides the intermediate sprint, which is often stifled by the main sprinters.

It would be especially important for local riders to get in the breakaway and win on their home roads, and the added addition of a sprint will bring out more fans and tourists.

And why stop with prize money? If the village you’re passing through has a local tradition, offer it is as a prize – one of the under-rated joys of pro cycling is a podium ceremony that includes a confused-looking cyclist trying to work out what he’s going to do with the giant block of cheese he’s just won.

Of course, you could argue there are already primes in place – the riders in the breakaway can compete for the points and prize money on offer on the climbs and intermediate sprints – but offering an additional incentive would be no bad thing.

Breakaway jersey

One additional option could be to offer a separate classification and jersey aimed at the breakaway. The Tour of Britain, for example, has a points jersey aimed at the most consistent finisher, similar to the Tour’s green jersey, and a separate ‘sprints’ jersey, where points are awarded at three intermediate sprints and bonus seconds deducted from the rider’s overall time.

It’s another idea that needs careful consideration, not least because of the fact an intermediate sprint already exists in the Tour, but, by effectively offering an additional points-based classification likely to be won by a breakaway rider, there will be a whole new incentive for riders to escape from the peloton.

On top of that, it will give those smaller teams who help animate the race the chance to get on the podium – and stay there as the race progress – while also enlivening the action.

Shorter stages

One problem with the transition stages of this year’s Tour de France was not just the pan-flat terrain and formulaic racing, but the length of them, too.

As a result, not only was the racing that unfolded all too predictable and inevitable, it just took a damn long time to happen.

One of the most action-packed stages in the race was the 101km stage 13, packed with three category-one climbs, from Saint-Girons to Foix.

Sure, a shorter flat stage would mean just a smaller version of what happens currently on long stages – break goes out, peloton chases, break gets caught, Marcel Kittel wins – but chuck in a couple of little ramps and all of a sudden you have a race on your hands.

Which brings us nicely to our last point…

A more varied route

In recent years, the Tour de France route has typified the mantra that you can’t win the race in the first week, but you can certainly lose it.

Crosswinds, cobbles, and Classics-like stages have all been the order of the day prior to this year’s race.

The Tour de France should reward the best all-round riders, and that also means mixing it up on punchy, uphill finishes and tough terrain, as well as staying safe on flat sprint stages.

In the latter half of this year’s race, the varied parcours added an extra layer of excitement to the racing. For example, stage 14 finished with a nasty kick into Rodez and saw the yellow jersey change hands, while momentum swung massively in the battle for the green jersey when stage 16 kicked off with a climb, and Team Sunweb set a phenomenal pace to split the peloton and tee-up Michael Matthews for victory at the expense of Marcel Kittel.

Crosswinds later in the stage caused further splits too, and while you are always at the mercy of the weather, organisers can certainly help by picking routes where crosswinds will be more pertinent. Look at stages into Montpellier in 2013 and 2016, or the stage finish on Zeeland in 2015 for examples.

Of course, we don’t want the GC race to be over in the first week – that’s exactly what Tour organisers were looking to avoid this year in manufacturing the course to provide a closer battle for the yellow jersey – but there are steps that can be taken to provide a true test to sprinters, breakaway riders and the GC men.

The stages don’t have to be so tough that the pure sprinters will miss out – we love a bunch gallop as much as everyone – we just want the sprint teams put under a bit more pressure on the run-in. ASO has to take some responsibility in making that happen.