“The Tour de France should modify its start and finish times to avoid the heat”

Europe is in the grip of another heatwave, and the timing could not be sharper. With daytime temperatures approaching 40°C in parts of the south and the Tour de France only weeks away, the question of how the race handles extreme heat is back on the table. The peloton has already had a taste: at last week's Tour de Suisse, riders raced in temperatures well above 30°C. "It was pretty hot," Tadej Pogačar said after the opening stage. "After the descents, it felt like someone was blowing a hairdryer into your face." One fix gets raised every summer: move the stages. Start and finish earlier, or later, so the bunch is not racing through the hottest hours of the afternoon. Supporters say rider safety has to come first, and the tools already exist. The UCI's High Temperature Protocol, brought in for 2024, lists changing the start or finish time as one of the steps available in its most severe "red" risk zone. If the science says midday racing is dangerous, the argument goes, then shift the clock and protect the riders. Organisers are more cautious. For them, a Grand Tour is a vast machine of road closures, television windows, host towns and the publicity caravan, and start times cannot be moved at will. Their instinct is to adapt within the race rather than redraw it. Vuelta a España director Javier Guillén put that view plainly when defending a hot 2026 route. "The heat cannot prevent us from going to certain areas," he said. "It is part of the competition and we must adapt to these conditions." Heat, here, is a challenge to be managed, not a reason to rebuild the timetable. The protocol itself sits in the middle. Its five risk zones, from white to red, are explicitly not automatic instructions: a red reading does not force a change, just as an orange one does not guarantee business as usual. Changing the start or finish time is only the last item on a long list. Long before that, teams can use ice vests, cold towels and ice socks, while organisers can add shaded waiting areas, extra bottles and neutral motorbikes carrying ice. Many of these protect riders without touching the format at all. There is also a catch in the physics. The UCI does not measure plain air temperature but Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, which folds in humidity, sun and wind. An earlier start is not always a cooler one, and warm nights, as forecasters keep warning, give the body little chance to recover. Move the finish too late and you trade afternoon heat for fading light and tired crowds. So the trade-off is real. Shifting start and finish times could spare riders the worst of the day, but it would strain the logistics, the broadcast and the spectacle that pay for the race. Should the Tour change its hours to put rider safety first, or adapt around the heat and keep the show on its traditional schedule? Where do you stand?