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Alasdair Fotheringham

Putting cobbles into first day of Tour de France would have been 'crazy' says organiser

Paris-Roubaix 2023: the race tackles a sector of pave.

Tour de France organisers ASO have justified the absence of pavé in the 2025 Grand Départ stages despite the race’s opening three days finishing close to the much-feared cobbled backroads of northern France.

As the finishing locations of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour’s opening stage in Lille on July 5th are separated by just a few kilometres, expectations that sectors of pavé featured regularly in the Queen of the Classics could put in an appearance had been high.

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