The most important cycling race in the world refuses to lose its importance, that is why it wanted to innovate and capture all the attention

With the aim of preserving and even adding new fans to the event, the organization of the Tour de France, scheduled to take place on July 7, has been given the task of reinventing itself in every way, proposing some interesting innovations in terms of logistics, which will surely surprise more than one at the time the competition begins.

Leer en español: El Tour de Francia se reinventa: Estas son las novedades más importantes de la carrera en 2018

For this reason, LatinAmerican Post reviews the four most important novelties available for the great cycling fair that you may not have known. In addition, of course, we also discuss the consequences that each of them will bring to the runners.

1. Fewer runners per team

One of the main changes for this edition of the gala round, as analyzed in one of its publications the newspaper As of Spain, will be the decrease of one runner per team. Until last year, there were 9 riders that were part of each squad. However, for this edition it was decided that only 8 riders would compose each payroll. The reason? Although it is an open secret, "what is intended is to diminish the supremacy of Team Sky in the race, which with so many gregarious applicants in its workforce, have always been able to provide an important advantage to Chris Froome, something that we want to reduce to its most minimal expression for this 2018", says the analysis of the portal.

 

A shared post by Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) on May 25, 2018 at 9:54 PDT

2. Unique opening

201 kilometers are scheduled for the first and unique fraction of the 2018 Tour, a flat stage to be played on the French island of "Noirmontier". According to La Vanguardia, this will become the fourth fraction that is not part of the mainland that will host the start of the race, after Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Corsica did.

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3. Unprecedented special bonuses

While it is true that the Tour will have some stretches of flat terrain for the first days, which seem without major difficulty for climbers, the organization decided to introduce an attractive novelty this year. In the first eight stages of the event, almost all to be played on level stretches, there will be an intermediate bonus of 1, 2 and 3 seconds for the first three that pass through emblematic points of those respective days. The objective is that the men of weight, besides fighting in the fractions of slope, also go out to look for some seconds in these first days.

4. Unusual stage like Formula 1

If the fans were looking for a Tour de France with emotions in bulk, there is a fraction that explains La Vanguardia, it will definitely be full of innovation and surprises. It will run on July 25 and will be marked on day 17 of the competition. It will mean a real challenge of power for the riders, since despite having only 65 kilometers of route (Bagnères-de-Luchon / Saint-Lary-Soulan), something that has not happened for more than 30 years, it was planned on the ground of climb from beginning to end. The route has five mountain passes and one of them out of category, which will serve as a real challenge for the legs of the climbers, who will test their strength without any truce.

The most curious thing is that the departure of this section will have another great novelty, because the riders will be aligned on their way out of the Formula 1 does, one after the other until the last, and will be the individual general classification that will order them all.

According to José Antonio Flecha, a former professional cyclist and now a specialist in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, "everything that is innovative and look to the future seems positive to me. Looking forward is always good, energize, try new things, like this grill. Undoubtedly it will be a true queen stage". So, the table is served, there is a great edition of the most important race of universal cycling, you just need to get down the banderole to pictures starting next July 7, to start enjoying it.

Latin American Post | Freddy González
Translated from “El Tour de Francia se reinventa: Estas son las novedades más importantes de la carrera en 2018”