Voeckler Not Obsessed with Tour

. No comments.

Although he knows that people will be expecting a lot from him after he pulled off a fantastic fourth place finish at the Tour de France last year, Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar has insisted that he is, in no way, obsessed with winning the most famous and prestigious of all the Grand Tours but did add that it would obviously be wonderful if he did manage to pull it off. He also added that there will be no change in his mentality and he will arrive for the Tour de France in July with the same mentality that he has always done for any other race.

Voeckler has had a stunning April, during which he has had a victory and three finishes in the top ten and could easily have been forgiven if he had gone into a spring break but instead of doing that, he travelled to Gabon in Africa for the Tropicale Amissa Bongo and also managed to pick up a stage win for his efforts. Speaking to the famous French magazine L’Equipe, Thomas Voeckler made it clear that his African sojourn was by no means connected to the Tour de France and if it had been, he would rather have taken the time off instead.

He also made it clear that he is not like most other riders who are obsessed with doing well at the famous race and also added that he was not in favor of repeating the same pre-race schedules just because it had worked out the previous year.

And Thomas Voeckler also stated that in spite of having held the Yellow Jersey of the overall leader for ten days at the Tour de France last year, he has no intention whatsoever of forgoing the other races in order to concentrate on it solely.

VOECKLER: I WOULDN’T HAVE WON

. No comments.

French cycling hero Thomas Voeckler is under no illusion that he was not chasing for victory in the Tour de France last year as he crashed out with only two days to go, handing the title over to Cadel Evans. The 32 year old was already a hero in his homeland before his exploits in last year’s grand tour and one of the things that most people like about him is that he wears his heart on his sleeve, having done so since the first time he swung his leg over a bicycle. The two time national championship winner in France held the lead for as many as ten days before his crash in the slopes of Alpe d’Huez handed the Yellow Jersey over to the youngster.

Voeckler admitted that there were some strategic mistakes on his part during that fateful race but he also confessed that he was not gunning for the first place, when his team mate was in the lead. At best, he was looking at a podium finish and second place was the best that Thomas Voeckler could hope for but everything went horribly wrong from there on.

His exploits in last year’s Tour have made many Frenchmen believe that one of their own can win the Yellow Jersey, a feat that has not been achieved since Richard Virenque did it in the mid-1990s. Although his team Europcar applied for membership of the International Cycling Union, it was declined to them, which means that Voeckler and his teammates will have to wait for invitations to take part in most events, except those in France.

But Thomas Voeckler does not think that it will be a problem because they will be able to give everything aiming for the most prestigious prize in road cycling, the Tour de France.