I don't necessarily disagree with you but I do think we should wait a year or two before coming to conclusions. The new route has been raced once so we don't really know yet how the average race on this route goes. Wasn't the first Ronde editions with the new finale also pretty much the worst the new route has seen and it got better the following years? I don't think attacking on La Redoute on this parcours is always gonna be doomed. If enough strong riders attack there, why not. The question is rather if enough riders are willing to go for a move like that.As it is now the showdown lasts less than 5 km. Still better than the Ans sprint, but any move before RaF is dead I'm afraid (although it has to be said that we will have optimal conditions this Sunday for action before that, but I doubt it will be different to the action before Poggio).