Lefevere questions idea of shortening Grand Tours and allowing rider substitutions

Patrick Lefevere: 'The challenge is to keep it up for three weeks, The Tour, Giro, and Vuelta last for 21 days, not 17 or 15'
Patrick Lefevere: 'The challenge is to keep it up for three weeks, The Tour, Giro, and Vuelta last for 21 days, not 17 or 15' (Image credit: Getty Images)

After Movistar team boss Eusebio Unzué raised the idea of allowing substitutions in Grand Tours and spoke about the prospect of reducing the races in length, perhaps as short as 15 days, his fellow manager, Soudal-QuickStep CEO Patrick Lefevere, has come out strongly against both proposals.

The Belgian, speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws, said that reducing the length of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España "would wipe away the entire history" of the races, and questioned how a rider substitution system would work fairly.

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Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

 

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

 

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix