“Today, Kevin is one of the strongest”
We watched you observe the arrival of your runner, what is the gap, 49 seconds?
49 seconds, it's nothing, it's always 49 seconds, but on the best runner in the world in the discipline, so no, Kevin makes a very very good time. Even compared to the strongest in this area. I think that today it is one of them, knowing that the time, there have still been wind changes, and therefore it was not necessarily in their favor, at least the first part, up to the last 7 kilometers, so no no, it really makes a very very good time.
Didn't you want to be behind him this time?
No, good after here, we have a distribution of roles, we work for one and the same thing, it is that we are the best possible, so a blow is one, a blow is the others … It depends on the domain of each.
Is a white jersey on the shoulders?
No, I don't think it's the white jersey, because Kevin proves that from the Tour de Switzerland, he rides crescendo, he is gaining momentum. Of course the white jersey is a distinction on the Tour, we knew that today with Remco it was going to be complicated to keep it, but he fought like a chef. There are still beautiful steps for him, which suits him, and for us we are making a very good start of Tourde France, so that's what we were looking for, and the whole team is with him, behind him, his teammates do a big big job, everything is fine.
Maybe this is a problem, the fact that it is as well placed in the general classification. We are not going to let him go, as on the stage of tomorrow, or go to a breakaway.
Afterwards, from one day to the next everything can change, but Kevin he is not there for the general, the general's runners also know it. Now it is sure that in Mûr-de-Bretagne and others … These are stages where there can also be things happening, is a Pogacar to want to lock the race? I'm not so sure, we'll see, we're going to see daytime how it goes, but the primary goal is a stage victory.
And when we make such a good start to the Tour de France, as Kevin does, does that not change the goals anyway?
No, that does not change the objectives, because the objectives, you have to stick to it, because that otherwise we go in all directions, and we lose our bearings, and today Our benchmarks we have them, and therefore we will continue in this direction.
How does he feel psychologically with this new status?
He cannot be better psychologically than he is there, he is in total confidence. Since the Tour de Switzerland, he saw that he had spent a milestone on a week's step races, there are many who may think that he took time on the first day, etc … But it is the first time as he was in this situation, and in fact it is part of an apprenticeship. Kevin is still young, and in apprenticeship, that's why it is not necessary to burn the steps, last year when I said that it is already necessary to shine in the stages of a week, before thinking of the rest, that is exactly that. It is a progression, every year you have to take a course, and go there little by little, and for the moment it spends caps.
Tomorrow is it a little emotionally different for him?
No, because they are high -level athletes, so emotion, yes is part of the game, but it is managed. We are there too to take a little pressure that he can have, and relieve him of that. Especially to leave it, that he keeps his feet on the ground a little, but that he is able to take a step back, because it is important.
