The Tour de France organising teams, which are in continuous contact with the local authorities in charge of road maintenance, have made the final changes to the route over the last few weeks, depending on the alterations made to the initial course. For stage five of the Tour de France between Lille and Arenberg-Porte du Hainaut, the first cobbled sector was supposed to begin at km 80 for the first section of 1,400 metres. However, the latest reconnaissance information has led course designer Thierry Gouvenou to make small changes. "An adjustment was made to improve road safety, but this poses safety problems for a cycling peloton that will most certainly be racing at a high speed as it approaches the first cobbled sector (#11). A bypass route has been chosen to take this first difficulty in the opposite direction, i.e., from Fressain to Villers-au-Tertre”. As a result of the modification, the stage will be 3.3 km longer (157 vs 153.7 km), which will not change the total distance of cobbles that remains at 19.4 km. Furthermore, contacts with the Nord department and the municipalities concerned have made it possible to postpone the work planned on the approach to sectors 10 and 9 until after the Grande Boucle.
