Tour de France braced for heatwave as race director explains extra safety measures

The Tour de France gets underway tomorrow in Barcelona, Spain, and the race is preparing itself for extreme heat. 

High temperatures are set to continue in Spain and France, after Europe’s record-breaking heatwave in June, and now the world’s biggest bicycle race is grappling with how to protect its riders. 

The temperature is set to hit 33˚C in Barcelona tomorrow, and high temperatures look likely to continue. Stage 4, on Tuesday, from Carcassonne to Foix, could see the peloton cycling through 40˚C heat with only a slight drop in temperature on stage 5. 

"The watchword is adaptation"

In the lead up to the Tour de France, race director Christian Prudhomme has been busy speaking to the press about the extreme heat. He has said the organisers are ready to adapt the race amid the extreme weather. 

“We will obviously experience high temperatures during the Tour de France. Protecting the riders and the public is paramount for us. The watchword is adaptation," Prudhomme told AFP. 

Prudhomme pointed to the UCI’s high temperature protocol, which was introduced before the 2024 season. The protocol considers temperature, humidity, wind and rider speed. The highest risk (red zone), of temperatures above 28˚C, can lead to modification of race times, neutralisation and cancellation. 

Speaking to L’Equipe, Prudhomme said: “We ourselves are going to deploy an additional cooling motorcycle. We’ve requested extra ice. There are all sorts of things involved, and we are in constant contact with the UCI, the riders' representatives, and the team representatives.” 

“We‘re doing things to cool down the body, but we should do things to cool down the planet"

Prudhomme has also said riders are used to riding in extreme heat, with temperatures hitting 42˚C at the Tour Down Under in January.  

However, that might bring little comfort. Only recently did Elisa Borghini lose 10 minutes on the final stage of the Tour de Suisse after suffering from heat stroke. 

Following the incident, XDS Astana’s Dr Emilio Magni warned against the severity of heat stroke and pointed to the changing climate. 

“We have to accept that climate change is no longer just something people talk about,” Magni told bici.pro. “It is a reality, and sporting events have to respond. There are protocols for extreme weather, but in some places extreme conditions are becoming normal.”

Team Cofidis sports director, Bignen Fernández, told BikeRadar at the Grand Départ in Barcelona that the team will use ice packs before and after the Tour de France stages in a bid to keep its riders cool. "It’s the only thing we can do in this situation," he said.

But, like Magni, he added that this is a climate problem. “We need to think as humans. We are creating this. We’re burning petrol. Climate change is here,” Fernández said.

“We‘re doing things to cool down the body, but we should do things to cool down the planet.”

Last year, Groupama–FDJ United’s Guillaume Martin told BikeRadar about his experiences at the scorching 2024 Vuelta a España. 

“At the Vuelta last year, the first week was over 40°C, and for three or four consecutive days, there was a rider that finished the race in an ambulance. I was close to being endangered and having health issues, but I never went to the point where it was too much or that I had to go to hospital,” he said. 

Martin added he believes the UCI’s weather protocols are enforced properly. 

“During the Vuelta, we were really at the limit of what the human body could do. I think if there is a real problem, or someone dies because of conditions, then things will change. But I hope we can find a solution before,” he said. 

A recent study in Scientific Reports looked at 50 years of data and found the level of risk of heat stress had increased steadily over the time period. 

It found the largest number of extreme-heat events occurred in the last 10 years. But it concluded that the Tour has so far avoided the conditions of maximum health risk, if only by a few days.