Tadej Pogačar called for a radical restructuring of professional cycling’s calendar Sunday as extreme heat continued to disrupt the Tour de France.
The four-time Tour winner said the sport should reconsider holding races in hot locations during July and August, arguing that shifting individual stage times would not be enough to address increasingly hot conditions.
The disruption came amid record-breaking heatwaves across Europe that have shattered temperature records and contributed to more than 10,000 excess deaths in June.
“If I had the power, I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places,” Pogačar said. “I’d do a completely different calendar, but it’s not something I can do.”
His comments came after organizers shortened the ninth stage of the Tour from Malemort to Ussel because of a red heat alert. Mathieu van der Poel won the stage, while Pogačar maintained his overall lead heading into the first rest day.
