2023-10-02 19:27:00
Thomas Voeckler’s reign at the head of the France team is not going too badly. There were of course Julian Alaphilippe’s two world champion titles in 2020 and 2021. Christophe Laporte’s second place in 2022. And if this year the Blues were unable to find a place on the world box, the Laporte’s title of European champion was a very nice consolation prize. But next year, if there will obviously be the World and Europe, there will also be, especially there will be Olympus. At home.
Paris 2024, for the coach of the French team, is inevitably a meeting like no other. A unique moment, even. For him, a very special motivation. And not just for him. “For 2024, I guarantee you that I would not have any trouble finding candidates,” he confided Monday evening in the show Bistrot Vélo on Eurosport, of which he was the guest. the runners were motivated.”
What strategy in Paris?
Places will be expensive. The Olympic Games, in terms of road racing, are a field of less than 100 runners, with a maximum of four per nation. France currently ranks 5th in the world, just enough to be in the cut for teams with 4 representatives. “It’s a completely atypical race. It’s very special, it’s going to be completely different from all the one-day races, from all the classics,” explains Voeckler.
As the organizing country, France is guaranteed to have at least two riders, but the boss of the Blues hopes for the maximum number for his group. Everything will be folded on October 17. He is crossing his fingers that the French team saves its place in the Top 5 in the nation rankings, which is not yet done. “I’m not calm regarding having 4 riders,” he admits. “Behind, there’s Great Britain, Spain… I thought it was done, it’s not the case. If we lose a rider, go from 4 to 3, we lose 25% of the team. It would be a disaster, fingers crossed.”
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Over the next few months, obviously taking into account everyone’s performances, Thomas Voeckler will devote a large part of them to the composition of his team. “What is clear is that it is not for pure climbers, he believes regarding the Parisian course. It is clear that a runner of the profile of (Jasper) Philipsen can be for him. But it depends how it runs.” Does he already know, broadly speaking, what direction his strategy will take? “If I had a precise idea, that would be good… I have one, I can’t say that I don’t think regarding it but it will be refined.”
What do we have to lose? Nothing
Two options before him: play 1 + 3 by betting everything on a single trump card, or allow everyone to play their card. “But it depends what you have in store, in terms of leaders, what can I do with them compared to the competitors? Do I have a guy who can take them all out, like a Julian ( Alaphilippe) in Imola?”
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One thing is certain, at three, four or eight, it doesn’t matter, the coach will not change his philosophy. He wants ambition, audacity and no small arms. “What do we have to lose?, he asks. If it’s playing the grocer to get 7th and saying ‘ah we’re still in the Top 10’… If we do a good place having done everything to win, no problem, I’ll take it. But you have to aim higher if you have the means. So, what do we have to lose? Nothing. It’s nothing only sport. On the other hand, having regrets, no.”
This is perhaps his greatest victory since his induction a little over three years ago: having desecrated the event and made his men understand that they were not stupider than others. Christophe Laporte says of him that he allowed them to get rid of “the fear of losing”. “What is most important to me,” concludes the coach, “is that everyone has a role and that they are proud of what they do, that they have served a purpose. Afterwards there is always hazards, it’s cycling, not math. But we have to have the feeling of not having regrets even if it doesn’t work. We can’t win every time.”
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