Lhe Route Book of the Tour de France, distributed to all the actors and followers of the race, provides for passing times for each stage, with three hypotheses (slow, medium, fast). Friday, the earliest scenario provided for an arrival at 4:39 p.m. Tadej Pogacar crossed the line six minutes earlier. During the second and sixth stages, Mathieu Van der Poel and Ben Healy were two minutes ahead of when they raised their arms.
These three examples reflect the rampant speed to which the peloton swallows the kilometers during this 2025 edition, like an increasingly pressed professional cycling. Friday, the first hour of the stage was run at more than 54 km/h on average. A delusional rhythm suffered by … Thierry Gouvenou, the race director, in his car: “We were tossed from right to left, as in a karting, I almost was sick! »»
The former runner does not mask his concern. “It’s been a long time since it worries me. In four or five years, we gained 10 % speed, he estimates. Today, with the urban developments that multiply in the municipalities that we cross, we pass runners at 60 km/h on roads which are planned to support cars at 30 km/h … We arrive at the limit. It becomes too dangerous. »»
Clear increase in falls
An addition of factors allows cyclists to go faster and faster: optimized food and recovery, aerodynamics pushed as much as possible on bikes, combinations and helmets, impressive brackets. And the observation goes far beyond the simple framework of the Tour de France. The speed record was established in Paris -Roubaix last year and almost equaled this year, a recorded rise in the ascent of the Cipressa during Milan – San Remo…
An increasing speed, an ever higher pressure on runners to meet the expectations of teams and sponsors, or even a denser platoon (an additional team invited on the Tour this year) leads to more falls. The very serious Procyclingstates site lists injuries each year during professional races: 219 in 2016, 323 in 2024 (unheard of) and already 263 this year, while the season is still stretching until the end of October.
Marc Madiot, the manager of Groupama-FDJ, has long been a workhorse. “We repeat the same things and nothing happens. We are already going more to the hospital. If that does not evolve, we will go to hospital even more often. And when it falls, it hurts more, “he believes. The runners demand for example more protections on the road or on their bodies, but this would amount to treating the symptoms, not the structural causes.
Huts, rims, handlebars …
Mathieu van der Poel judges that “the most dangerous element is the runners themselves, since we take risks”. But these, in the same way as the teams, only compose with the current regulations. “Reducing the speed of bikes and peloton would already make a real difference,” according to Canadian Michael Woods. “Without big changes, we will see runners die. Which has already happened. Reference to the Swiss Gino Mäder, who died after a fall in a descent during the Tour of Switzerland 2024.
If French Louis Barré militates for the end of the earrings “who add pressure” and distract the runners, everyone returns the ball to the Union International Cycling (UCI). This announced in mid-June limitations in 2026 for the height of the rims, the width of the handlebars and forks. A test on the limitation of brackets is planned at the end of the season. “But I’m not even sure it changes something,” sighs Bryan Coquard.
“I recently discussed this subject with Alain Prost,” says Marc Madiot. He told me that at the time when there were sliding skirts on Formula 1, the car was not running so much it was “screwed to the ground”. So they deleted the sliding skirts. We have only one thing to do: slow down bikes. Thierry Gouvenou traces a parallel with another discipline. “In swimming, they changed the rules for combinations. If we do not get there for bikes, it is that we are stupid, that’s it. »»
