The Bouygues Telecom squad is a more mature unit than in recent years and is counting on this edition of the Tour de France to show its talent with team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau hoping his riders will figure in the mountain stages.
"This edition of the Tour will give us the opportunity to show we belong, knowing that cycling is cleaner than in the past," explained Bernaudeau to aso.fr. "What we have seen in the races for a few months encourages us to persevere with our efforts. And if the cycling world feels better, riders are less concerned and so the atmosphere is more favourable to good results."
The objectives of the French team are simple, go after stage wins. "We do not really have a leader to aim at a good position in the overall standings, but we will try to win at least one stage," said Bernaudeau. "Last year Pierrick Fedrigo gave us our first stage victory on the Tour and everybody was very moved in the team. Now we hope to live such moments again in the future. We will have 20 stages to prove we can win. Our riders will have to show their fighting spirit everyday."
France's favourite fighter Thomas Voeckler will again be a major part of the team, but he is not team leader. Instead, like all the riders on the team, he shares an equal role. "Like his team mates, Thomas is there to improve his stats. To be honest, the major asset of our team lies in the fact that our riders complement each other. Generally speaking, our riders have maturity: Fedrigo is fitter than last year and so is Sprick. We will also count on Laurent Lefèvre and Johann Tschopp as soon as we reach the Alps. I think you will see us more in the mountain stages this year."
Bouygues Telecom's Tour line-up: Stef Clement (Ned), Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra), Xavier Florencio (Esp), Anthony Geslin (Fra), Laurent Lefèvre (Fra), Jérôme Pineau (Fra), Matthieu Sprick (Fra), Johann Tschopp (Swi) and Thomas Voeckler (Fra).
