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.