The 112nd edition of Tour de France set off this Saturday from Lille with a nervous first step, which saw, through the borders and the falls, the victory of the runner of the formation Alpecin-DECEUNINCKthe Limburgian Jasper Philipsenwhich, at the same time, endorsed the first leading yellow jersey. Present with two runners at the front in the first part of the peloton, the training Ds Astana could not do better than an eleventh place with the old carrier of the yellow jersey, Mike Teunissen. His teammate Davide Ballerini finished this first step at a 37th place anecdotal. The general manager of the Kazakhe training, Alexandre Vinokourovspoke to our microphone Cyclism’Actu On this agitated stage.
Video – Alexandre Vinokourov at the microphone of Cyclism'Actu
“I am not worried about Remco Evenepoel …”
What do we think of this first step, Alexandre Vinokourov?
The first step is as usual: nervous, with a lot of falls and wind. We survived. Too bad for the sprint, you could do better than 11th or 12th, but hey, that's how it is. We will try another day.
The border, everyone had seen him coming, but we had to be in the right shot?
Yeah, but we placed two guys for the sprint in front, and it's perfect. But hey, at the end, Davide Ballerini had no good legs, and Teunissen not the right positions. But hey, that's how it is. This is not our best sprint. I'm sure Teunissen can do more than that, but hey, we'll see tomorrow. Hats off to the Alpecin-Deceuninck.
After the comeback of the start of the season concerning the UCI points, what are we targeting on this Tour de France?
On the Tour de France, we have the same goal: to collect as many points as possible, and of course, if we can have a stage victory, it's perfect. We know that in sprint we cannot win, but we will try to go to the escapes and seize the opportunities. If you sprint every day in the top 10, it's already good.
“Clément Champoussin is motivated …”
Are you already surprised that Vingegaard, Pogacar or Evenepoel are in a fight, and that Remco Evenepoel is trapped in this border?
It's like that, it happens. But hey, I think he can make up for this on the time. It's hard to be concentrated all day, it's like that. But hey, there are still 20 days of racing, anything is possible.
A word on your French climber, Clément Champoussin. How is he?
He's fine, he's motivated. Well, these are not stages like today for him, but steps like tomorrow, Mûr-de-Bretagne or Clermont-Ferrand. In my opinion, he will find the opening in a breakaway and do beautiful things.
