Tour de France: "We hope to win a stage with him"... Clément Champoussin has reached a milestone

At 27, Clément Champoussin is no longer the youngster who came to experience the atmosphere of the Tour de France. The Nice native is completing his third consecutive Grand Boucle. "It's always a pleasure, especially for a Frenchman, and there's less stress than the first time," says the climber, who experienced the grand presentation in Lille on Thursday evening.

After two Tours in the Arkéa jersey, he sets off in the jersey of the very cosmopolitan XDS-Astana , which is counting on its Frenchman. "He's been working well since the start of the season, but he can do even better," believes Alexandre Vinoukourov, his manager. "We hope to win a stage with him."

"Target steps"

A difficult but not impossible mission for someone who had already tasted a stage success on a major Tour (Vuelta 2021).

"We don't have the rider to do a general classification, so we're here to get results on certain stages, we're going to target certain ones," explained the Nice rider yesterday afternoon, who will also be responsible for "helping the sprinters as best he can" (read opposite). The Tourmalet, the Ventoux and the Col de la Loze are on the menu for ^this 112th edition, legendary names that make all climbers dream, but the former mountain biker has a broader vision of this Tour.

The general for later

"There will be some great mid-mountain stages, where a lot can happen, even the first week is hilly, with finishes for punchers. There will be nerves, quite a bit of wind, rain, a bit like Paris-Nice."

This race in the sun, in which he took ^7th place overall in March, finishing ^2nd in the ^5th stage behind Lenny Martinez. Moreover, this season, he has finished three times in the top 10 of the four World Tour stage races he has competed in ( ^10th in the Basque Country and the Tour de Suisse, abandonment in Romandie). Is this enough to give him ideas of aiming for a place in the overall standings in a major Tour? "If I improve, in the future, it would be good to try the Giro and the Vuelta over 3 weeks, but not this Tour de France," temporizes the native of Cimiez. Especially since Pogacar's dominance limits the ambition of his rivals. "He's the number 1 favorite and the first week suits him very well, he who likes the classics. But, over three weeks, we're safe from anything..."