Pogačar calls for Tour move in climate calendar rethink

Climate pressure reaches the calendar

Tadej Pogačar has called for cycling’s calendar to be radically redesigned, including moving the Tour de France, in response to extreme temperatures and the ongoing effects of climate change.

The call comes after the first week of this year’s Tour de France was characterised by heatwaves, nearby wildfires, and shortened stages. That combination matters because it shifts the issue beyond rider discomfort or isolated race-day disruption. If extreme heat is now affecting how stages are run, the calendar becomes part of the competitive and safety framework of the sport.

For a data-driven cyclist, the key point is that environmental load is no longer just background context. Heat changes pacing, recovery, risk management, and the viability of stage designs. Pogačar’s position effectively argues that the sport cannot keep treating the race calendar as fixed while the conditions around it are changing.

Full details are at the linked road.cc source.