I liked the Rambouillet start and thought the Bergerie Nationale was a good venue. It seemed chaotic with massive queues on the Saturday when most riders were registering, but I was on the 84 hour so registered in the dry on Sunday with no queues.
I agree with others that the final approach should have been kept clear of motor homes and this in turn should have reduced the number of people walking down the route. It was also confusing at the finish with a huge banner that wasn’t actually the finish. I was lucky that I finished in daylight early Wednesday evening and there was a marshall to guide me into the cobbled courtyard and the actual finish, but others weren’t so lucky.
I hoped that with the start being moved nearer to Brest that the route would be shortened to just over 1200km, but it wasn’t shortened as much as I had hoped and extra hills seemed to have been thrown in too! In 2015 Strava using my Garmin Edge 200 made it 1234.0km with 10040m ascent and in 2019 with the same Garmin, Strava made it 1223.6km and 10731m ascent. This means the distance was only about 0.84% less in 2019 than 2015, but despite this slight reduction in distance, the ascent had increased by almost 6.9%, making the event significantly harder and still over distance. Whilst it didn’t bother me too much, it was the difference between success and failure for many riders, especially when a significant amount of their time was taken up queuing at controls.
I thought the food marquee at the finish was very good and I enjoyed my vegetarian meal. In 2015 there was no vegetarian food at the finish. I didn’t eat at many controls because I carried my own food but found plenty of veggie food available at controls this time.
Regarding the high DNF rate this time especially with riders from hot countries, I’ve no reason to suspect that they haven’t qualified properly, it’s just that food, climate, hills and everything else is so different for them in Northern Europe. Even 27 degrees in the daytime seems chilly when you’re used to 40 plus, so 2 or 3 degrees during 9 hour nights was unbearable for many. I found it almost unbearable myself and I ride 200km plus regularly all year round in the UK. It’s also unusual and uncalled for to have a headwind both ways on any ride, especially such a long one.
I think the pre-qualifying process is good, but there should always be some space reserved for new riders before any further available places are opened up to other non pre-qualified riders.