The Tour de France will no longer use two "podium girls" to assist and kiss the stage winner and jersey winner after each stage.

"In the past, two podium girls have assisted the riders on the podium," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said Wednesday (Europe 1). For the first time, we will have an Érieux (a local powerhouse), a jersey partner, and one hostess and one presenter."

For years, the practice of two women presenting a rider with a bouquet of flowers or a stuffed animal from a sponsor at a race like the Tour de France, followed by two women kissing the rider on both cheeks simultaneously, has been denounced as sexist and archaic, and Europe 1 has said that in 2019 "women are neither objects nor rewards The practice of using "grid girls" in Formula 1 motor racing was also discontinued in 2018, a French radio station noted.

The Tour's organizer, ASO, apparently listened to the views of many and instead appointed one man and one woman to assist riders with podium protocol for stage winners and classification jersey holders, and the number of local dignitaries and sponsor representatives was reduced from five each to one Prudhomme said that reducing the number of people on the podium to only one elu and one partner will also serve to reduce the number of people on the podium as the risk of coronavirus continues.

"Yes, it is new, but other races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège have already been doing this for 20 years," Prudhomme said, referring to the Belgian Monument, also organized by ASO.

Another ASO event, the one-day Flèche Wallonne, featured one male and one female presenter on the podium for the 2018 event.