The possibility of cyclo-cross finally becoming a Winter Olympics discipline, perhaps as soon as 2030, has come back under the media spotlight after local authorities and businesses in the Planche des Belles Filles area released details of their plan to L'Équipe for the well-known climb in eastern France to play host to 'cross races in the 2030 Games.
The Winter Olympics are due to take place in the Alps in 2030 and four new disciplines are expected to be added to the schedule, with cyclo-cross hoping to be amongst their number.
First used in the 2012 Tour de France with a victory for Chris Froome, since then the Planche des Belles Filles climb in the Vosges mountains has become a regular feature of the race. To date, it has also formed part of the Tour de France Femmes once, in July 2022, when it saw Annemiek van Vleuten seal her overall triumph with a stage win. Now, though, the idea is for the forbiddingly steep climb to form part of a cyclo cross circuit.
Amongst those backing the bid for cyclo-cross to regain a potential place in the 2030 Games are UCI President David Lappartient, former French PM Michel Barnier, who has played a key role inside France in the Winter Olympics organising committee and former Cyclo-Cross World Championships bronze medallist Lucie Lefèvre. But for many cycling fans, likely the most striking support has come from Vosges-born former pro Thibaut Pinot.
Retired in 2023, Pinot has even joked he might even come out of retirement to try and win on local soil in cyclo-cross, saying "In February 2030, I'm finally going to have my victory at La Planche des Belles Filles."
La Planche is not the only French candidate for a potential inclusion of cyclo-cross in the Winter Olympics. The city of Besançon, close to the Jura mountains in eastern France, has also put forward a proposal. A definitive decision is not expected until February 2026, during the next Winter Olympics, which will take place in Italy.
While the final thumbs-up (or down) is therefore still months away, one of La Planche's biggest hurdles to its proposal becoming reality is distance. In theory, all the host sites for the new disciplines in the 2024 Winter Olympics have to be in the southern part of France, which could render La Planche too far from the other locations.
However, Lefèvre told L'Équipe she doesn't see the logic in that, given the heartlands of cyclo-cross are much further north.
"For us, it makes no sense to organize an event in the south which has no tradition of cyclo-cross," explained Lefèvre. "We are four hours from Belgium and the Netherlands, both of which do. If we had 20,000 to 30,000 people turn up, it will be a great celebration, and we know how to handle it."
