Newly re-crowned French champion Thomas Voeckler will once again lead the Bbox Bouyges Telecom team to the Tour de France, which starts in Rotterdam, Netherlands this Saturday. The 31-year-old, who wore the yellow jersey for 10 days back in 2004, will share the team leadership with compatriots Pierrick Fedrigo, winner of the Critérium International, and Pierre Rolland.
“It’s necessary to make a choice, it’s like that,” said team manager Jean-René Bernadeau. “Those who have been chosen I want to take, but those I haven’t chosen: I want to take them too.
“I hesitated over William Bonnet, Yuriy Trofimov, Johann Tschopp and of course Laurent Lefèvre,” Bernadeau continued. “I also considered Steve Chainel, had [Tour organiser] ASO not requested a list of 15 riders before April 2nd. Many of these riders would have been selected by other teams.”
Rolland will likely be the closest thing to a general classification rider after his 21st place last year, and his eighth place at the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this month. In all probability though the team will concentrate on chasing stage wins, where Voeckler and Fedrigo were successful last year.
The French team lost its ProTour status for this season, but is guaranteed a place at the Tour thanks to the agreement made between the teams, the Interantional Cycling Union (UCI) and the Grand Tour organisers back in 2008. As one of the biggest teams in France Bbox Boyges Telecom would in all likelihood have been invited anyway, but the boys in blue, white and turquoise will be keen to justify their presence in their country’s biggest sporting event.
Bbox Bouyges Telecom team for the Tour de France:
Thomas Voeckler, Pierrick Fédrigo, Pierre Rolland, Cyril Gautier, Yukiya Arashiro, Nicolas Vogondy, Matthieu Sprick, Anthony Charteau, Sébastien Turgot