THE RACE LIVE
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Interviews

Read the two, daily interviews with the Big Loop's sporting or team managers. For the letour.fr site, they set out their aims and strategy and review the form of their riders.






"Aiming at the Top 5, dreaming of the podium"

Francis Lafargue (CAISSE D’EPARGNE – ILES BALEARES)

VALVERDE Alejandro (ESP) - Copyright A.S.O.
There are a lot of expectations placed on Alejandro Valverde as an outsider for the Tour. What actually are his ambitions?
Those who already see him out on top don’t know cycling very well. On the other hand, his preparation has been exemplary and he’s shaping up very well. He put in an excellent performance on the Dauphiné Libéré, both in the Toussuire stage and the time trial. But he’s still young and he has to make progress in some departments. For the moment, he doesn’t know the Alps very well and he has no experience of a third week on the Tour de France. Given this, he’s aiming at the Top 5 and dreaming of the podium.

His progress in time trials could substantiate this ambition…
Yes, but this remains his relative Achilles’ heel, at least as far as a final victory is concerned. And this year, almost 120 kms is a long way out on your own. In comparison to a flat racer like Ullrich, even if you give away just two seconds per kilometre, that makes four minutes to pull back in the mountains!

Valverde is also appreciated for his panache. Will we often be seeing him on the attack?
This is one of the aspects we’ll have to manage. He has a fiery nature and a winner’s temperament, and that’s fine for spectacle. He’s proved this in classics. But over the Tour, you have to be capable of channelling your energy and he’s beginning to learn. On the Dauphiné, for example, he spent a lot of time up ahead on the Toussuire stage, but this excess of energy certainly cost him the victory at the end of the day.

The team: Alejandro Valverde (Spa), David Arroyo (Spa), Florent Brard (Fra), Isaac Galvez (Spa), José Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa), Oscar Pereiro (Spa), Nicolas Portal (Fra), Xabier Zandio (Spa), Vladimir Karpets (Rus).

 

"Each has his own weapons"

HUSHOVD Thor (NOR) - Copyright A.S.O.
Roger Legeay (CREDIT AGRICOLE)

In 2005, Thor Hushovd won the green jersey without carrying off a stage. Is defending the jersey still the team’s priority?
Naturally Thor is still group leader and the green jersey is an objective. In any case, for yellow and green jersey alike, what counts on the Tour is to be the best in Paris. So, if Thor is to keep it without winning once, I won’t be choosy. I’ll take that. But winning the green jersey is a combination of many things and everyone knows that the best way to do it is to chalk up stages. That is clearly and precisely the objective.

If we imagine that Boonen doesn’t quit and McEwen is not relegated on a stage, the fight at the top of the sprinters’ ranking promises to be even more intense…
It’ll be very hard, particularly since we have three different guys here. McEwen is certainly the fastest, Boonen the strongest and Thor maybe the most "all-terrain", because he’s also able to climb the passes correctly. So, each has his own weapons. Given this, what is interesting is that the fight for the green jersey won’t stop at the foot of the Pyrenees. Practically every stage could see them chasing for points.

The group is sufficiently all-round to be able to set its sights on other stage victories apart from mass sprints…
Yes, since we have riders able to launch themselves in superb breakaways such as Halgand, Hinault, Botcharov or Engoulvent. Even if we assume our responsibilities in terms of chasing in the flat stages, there’s no way we’ll be "riding to catch up with one of our guys" if he’s out in front. Then, for the mountains, Pietro Caucchioli, who has already finished 11th on the Tour, could easily remain in touch with the leaders and make it into the Top 10 in the general classification.

The team: Thor Hushovd (Nor), Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), Pietro Caucchioli (Ita), Anthony Charteau (Fra), Julian Dean (NZL), Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra), Patrice Halgand (Fra), SĂ©bastien Hinault (Fra), Christophe Le MĂ©vel (Fra).

 
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