Cycling news: they are listening to us!

Good news, Schlecklanders, ASO - organisers of the Tour - are indeed listening to us.

For quite some time I have been suggesting ways to make the Tour safer without making it dull, and one of those was reducing the number of riders.

Not by scrapping teams, but by reducing the numbers.

I think my finest suggestion was to have a 9-man team, only 7 of which rode each day, thus allowing two "substitutes" who would be the most appropriate domesiques for the stage.

GC and jersey contenders would have to ride every day, but domestiques could be changed. (And to keep them fit, they could ride part/most of the route behind the race, if they wanted to.)

This would effectively reduce the number in the peleton, without hampering the teams.

Recently, Mr Prudhomme  announced that he is considering reducing team size to eight riders.

Yay!

Perhaps they will take up some of my other suggestions, too: how about the one where teams change a wheel against the clock in order to get a time bonus?

Or where they get points for accuracy of discarding bidons into a net after the feed zone?

Or get penalised for having a really, really ugly kit? (Footon Servelo, this means YOU.)