Annemiek van Vleuten, Kasia Niewiadoma express conflicting views ahead of stage 4's off-road outing to Bar-Sur-Aube
Annemiek van Vleuten leading the peloton on the gravel roads of Strade Bianche 2022(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Spectators will be treated to one of the most anticipated days at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift when the world-class cyclists barrel across the gravel roads of the Champagne region on stage 4 into Bar-Sur-Aube on Wednesday.
It will undoubtedly provide a dramatic backdrop for the race, excitement for the spectators to watch at the side of the road and on the live broadcast, but the top riders in the peloton have conflicting views on whether gravel - or cobbles for that matter - should be included in a high-profile stage race like the Tour de France.
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) is a key favourite for the overall title and a self-professed lover of gravel races like Strade Bianche, which she has won twice. Still she feels that there is a time and a place for gravel and that time and place isn't stage races.
"I don't look forward to the gravel day to be honest. In my opinion, I love it in Strade Bianche but I don't like it so much if you have GC ambitions," Van Vleuten said.
"It's a bit unnecessary that it can be decided by bad luck and that's not what I look forward to. But I always have this thing of ‘don’t think about bad luck, then it’s not happening’.”
Van Vleuten has been vocal about her distaste for gravel in stage races before, most notably at the Giro Donne in 2020, where she was forced to run up Seggiano gravel climb on stage 2 into Arcidosso. She won the stage and the overall title that year.
The route planned for stage 4 at the Tour de France Femmes includes a total of 12.9km of gravel, far less gravel than Strade Bianche's 31.4 kilometres of gravel.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Gravel at the Giro d'Italia Donne in 2020 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The race heads out of Troyes and into the Parc Naturel de la Forêt d'Orient and over the Lac d'Orient before travelling south toward the one and only intermediate sprint at Bar-our-Seine (60.4km).
It is at the midway point of the race that the peloton will meet the gravel and climbing where we can expect to see attacks and separations in the field.
There are four gravel sectors - Chemin blanc de Celles (2.3km), Chemin blanc des Hautes Forêts (3.2km), Chemin blanc du Plateau (4.4km) and Chemin blanc de Vitry (3km).
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) told Cyclingnews that the gravel sectors add another variable that plays into team strengths, tactics and fortune. She said that she revels in the gravel stage.
"To be honest, from let's say VeloViewer or just having done online research, I would say that it wasn't something dangerous or special, but after previewing the route, and seeing it live, and riding the gravel roads myself, I can definitely tell you that a lot could happen just even taking into consideration somebody getting a puncture in the wrong place or getting into trouble and it's hard stage," said Niewiadoma, currently third overall at the Tour de France Femmes after the first three stages.
"I will say that it is comparable to Strade Bianche, maybe we don't have as many gravel roads or kilometres in total. But definitely it's gonna be hard because I feel like something will be happening constantly in the last a 80km, or so. Yeah, so maybe it won't have a huge impact on GC but I feel like you can lose there, maybe not gain too much, but definitely you can use lose a lot."
Niewiadoma believes that cycling is changing and frequently seeing new elements added to races such as the gravel stage at Tour de France Femmes and the Paris-Roubaix cobbled sectors added to the Tour de France, is good for the sport from an athletic and spectator standpoint.
"It's cool. Like why not? I feel like cycling is changing and it's impossible to please everyone. I feel like gravel roads allow you to discover more of your abilities or bike skills, and it's I feel like it just like adding extra thing that somebody enjoys and somebody's not, and it's okay," she said.
"And we all have to accept that because, as I said, it's impossible to please everyone. And again, why not have gravel?
Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) won the Roubaix stage 4 at the Tour de France earlier in July beating Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies). Niewiadoma was watching on live broadcast and enjoyed the new challenge offered to that event.
"I watched the Tour de France, I've noticed that anytime they are about to face something different or some difficulties, this is what you want to see. It something that you feel excites you in some ways. And I feel like gravel ... it's not that we're racing, gravel roads like the pro mountain bikers. These roads are still smooth ... I would never find them dangerous," Niewiadoma said.
"It's fun and I feel like – for the riders, I mean – maybe there are some who are against it, but I feel like it's fun racing with gravel because it's so different."
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
