5 wild ways substitute riders in the Tour de France could completely change racing

On Tuesday, Movistar’s general manager Eusebio Unzue advocated for significant reforms in cycling, including the introduction of substitute riders akin to soccer’s format for Grand Tours. This perspective was partially inspired by Movistar’s loss of team leader Enric Mas in a crash during Stage 1 of the 2023 Tour, de France. Unzue floated the idea that teams could swap riders out in the first week, in case of injury.

Alright there Eusebio, how about you hold my cerveza and Uncle Matt takes your idea further?

1. Tag in a different rider for the breakaway

It’s hard to get in the right break that stays away (unless you’re Derek Gee, it seems.) And once you’re in the break, you may not have great legs, or worse, you may be stuck with some riders who will be faster in the finale. So if a team gets a rider who doesn’t have much of a kick, howsabout they can just ferry a cyclist behind (or even inside!) the team car to the break and let him do his thing in the sprint? It would be like some sort of power-up though: you can only do it once per race.

2. Take a dive?

If we are going to model this after soccer, some of those cyclists are going to have to take some acting classes. Everyone has seen a soccer player get an Oscar after a non-hit, just so the other guy gets a red card. Pro cyclists are tough as nails–we’ve all seen riders come to the line with half their shorts gone and bleeding everywhere. Why not wince even more at the camera, so your team can swap you out for a fresher guy? Don’t start your GC guy, and then when one of your guy “hits the deck” in the first week, boom, put him in ready to take on the last two weeks.

3. Change out riders in the TT

Not everyone is great in the individual tests. GC riders wouldn’t need to do all that annoying wind tunnel tests if you could tag in your TT specialist for the big chrono. And then when it’s over, put the GC guy back in.

4. Put your sprinter in after all those pesky climbs

Mountain stages can still come down to a sprint. But the problem is, sprinters won’t make it in the lead group. They will be in the gruppetto as soon as the roads start to go up. So how about they skip those annoying hills and just get in there for the finale? How great would it be to see Mark Cavendish break the all-time record for stage wins on Alpe d’Huez?

5. Swap out your rider after the race…just in case

If a particular rider has a…especially good day, he may want someone to uh, step in for him for the post-race protocols. * wink wink *

What say you, ASO? These are top-tier ideas. I’m here to chat more about them.