Children's press conference
For the second time one year after the inception of the event in Utrecht, The Netherlands, the first press conference of the Tour de France was for children from local schools and cycling clubs to ask questions to Thomas Voeckler, Simon Geschke, Anthony Delaplace, Alexis Gougeard, Christian Prudhomme and Bernard Hinault. A large number of questions regarded the daily life of the riders. “How many hours do you ride your bike per week?”, asked Gina, 9. “15 to 20 hours”, said Gougeard but Geschke doubled up with 30 to cover 1000km, “the longest”, he insisted. “Can a Frenchman take the yellow jersey to Paris this year?”, was another question. Voeckler clearly answered “yes” and mentioned the names of Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil. Interestingly, Hinault nodded. The riders also informed their audience that they brought five bikes each to ride the Tour de France.
2000 accredited journalists representing 600 different media outlets will take over from the kids to interview the cyclists during the two days leading up to stage 1.
35 nations on the start list
Team managers can modify their line-up until the eve of stage 1 but the provisional start list now gives a pretty clear picture of the field. 198 riders will represent 35 nations. France has the highest number of starters (38) ahead of Spain (18), The Netherlands (15), Belgium (14), Italy (13), Germany (12) and Switzerland (9). With the late replacement of Dries Devenyns by Leigh Howard, Australia also has nine riders in the field, which is one more than Great-Britain. Ethiopia is a new country on the record book of the event with the first participation of Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida). 49 nations had been previously listed.
165 participants are from Europe, 12 from Oceania (9 Australians and 3 New Zealanders) and America (5 from the USA, 4 Colombians, 2 Argentines, 1 Canada), 6 from Africa (3 South African, 2 Eritreans and 1 Ethiopian), 2 from Asia (1 from Kazakhstan, 1 from Japan).
Tosatto: 34th Grand Tour at the age of 42
Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff) leads the age group! At 42, he'll start his 34th Grand Tour (13 Giro, 11 Tour and 9 Vuelta up to date). He's followed by a few 39-year old: Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal), Haimar Zubeldia (Trek-Segafredo), Angel Vicioso (Katusha) and Paolo Tiralongo (Astana). Aged 38, Paris-Roubaix winner Mathew Hayman (Orica-BikeExchange) will be part of the Tour de France peloton for the second time – he pulled out in 2014 after a crash. The youngest is Norwegian neophyte Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling), 22.
Hansen says 15, Chavanel climbs to 16
Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) will try to complete his fifteenth Grand Tour in a row. He hasn't missed or abandoned any since the 2011 Vuelta a España. Starting the Tour de France for the sixteenth time, Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) is getting close to the record held by George Hincapie and Stuart O'Grady (17). It's Zubeldia's 15th attempt, Thomas Voeckler's 14th and Tosatto's 12th, just as many as Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-La Mondiale).
33 first timers
33 cyclists will take part in the Tour de France for the first time, among which 33 year old Domenico Pozzovivo of AG2R-La Mondiale and his team-mate Alexis Gougeard, Tour of California winner Julian Alaphilippe from Etixx-Quick Step and Vuelta a España overall winner Fabio Aru (Astana). Nine of them have never participated to any Grand Tour.
