“With what ambition are you attacking this Tour?
I feel good, I’m happy to be here, I’ve had a good preparation even if the months at the beginning of the season have been difficult. I have a team that trusts me to be at the start here. If I’m here it’s because I believe in it, the objective is obviously to go for a victory. There are many opportunities for the sprinters. The course is very hard at the beginning, very hard at the end, and there is a great week, almost ten days, with many sprints. I’m a bit like Mark Cavendish, I believe in it: a good wave, good confidence, if there is space and feeling it can work.
Did you doubt your participation?
I doubted it many times, absolutely. Again at the four days of Dunkirk, after my fall I had another five really difficult days. I’ve had a lot of obstacles in my way, luckily I have a team that really supports me. It was a plus to leave each time. At no time was I told that I was going to be ousted from the selection, that I was not capable of it. The Tour de France has always been in my mind, I worked for it. I hope to be the surprise on this Tour de France where no one expects me.
Have you targeted a particular step?
No, all stages where there is a possible sprint. We can count seven, eight or even nine with more or less hard sprints, with paths, it will really depend on my condition. And also how the peloton runs.
Last year, there was a lot of friction in the sprints. Is this a trend that is increasing?
It also rubs on other races. I saw tricky things at the start of the season too, not necessarily in the last 200 metres but upstream, at the kilometre or 5 kilometres from the finish. It’s part of cycling, I’m one of the riders who aren’t necessarily kamikazes and who like fluid sprints but we adapt. We have commissaires, referees to make important decisions. It’s up to them to move if we have to move.”
