On the occasion of the presentation of its season, the Groupama-FDJ team announced high ambitions for the next Tour de France. “We will aim for the podium there, explains his manager Marc Madiot. Those who rode it in recent years had nothing more than us. You have to have high ambitions. “
And Madiot announced that Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu would dispute it. It is up to the two men to know before the start of the next Tour in Copenhagen on July 1 who will be the leader of the French team.
Faced with the ambitions of their boss, moderately satisfied with the 2021 season of his troops, Gaudu and Pinot accepted the challenge. David Gaudu, sole leader last year but who had had a complicated day following ten days and fatal for his ambitions, said he was ready. “We’re going with a competitive team. It is the season that will decide who will be the sole leader of the team. In any case, we no longer have the right to hide now. “
Just following him, Thibaut Pinot, whom we had not seen with such a determined face for almost two years, prefers to speak of a “collective” goal for the podium. For the Franc-Comtois, the Groupama-FDJ team “will have a collective strength rarely seen”. He does not feed his optimism only on his newfound pleasure in practicing his profession following a 2021 season marred by his long convalescence. But, during the last transfer market, his training recruited a reinforcement of choice, the promising Australian Michael Storer, 24, from DSM. “It’s a very good pickaxe,” says Pinot. One of the best recruits of recent years. He will bring us a lot. With him, David and I will have three beautiful mountain maps. “
Pinot also sweeps away the hypothesis of a “war of the chiefs” between him and Gaudu throughout the season to gain the psychological advantage over the other. “All this will not create tension,” he says. We are a united formation. The egos, we will put them aside during the Tour de France. It’s still better to have several leaders, it offers more freedom and takes the pressure off. “
While waiting for the next Tour, Pinot, who will start his season once more with the Tour du Haut Var (February 19 to 21) has displayed his ambitions. They fit into a single sentence: “I want to regain races as soon as I can”.