Key points:

Ø Brittany is all set for the Grand Départ of the 108th Tour de France with stage 1 to take the 184 participants from Brest to Landerneau. Seven Breton riders line up in a land of a rich cycling history, including David Gaudu and Valentin Madouas, the locals for stage 1.

Ø Peter Sagan starts his tenth Tour de France with the aim of winning his eighth green jersey.

Ø The start list includes four Tour de France winners: Chris Froome (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), Vincenzo Nibali (2014) and Tadej Pogacar (2020). 41 participants have already won at least one stage, including veteran Alejandro Valverde who claimed stage from Brest to Plumelec in 2008.

Seven Breton riders on the path of Jean Malléjac
Among the 33 French starters of the 108th Tour de France, seven hail from Brittany where the first four stages will be held: Warren Barguil and Elie Gesbert (Arkea-Samsic), Cyril Gautier and Franck Bonnamour (B&B-Hotels p/b KTM), Julien Simon (Total Energies), David Gaudu and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ). Gaudu and Madouas are precisely the enfants du pays of stage 1. Madouas was born in Brest and received an emotional welcome on stage at the teams presentation on Thursday evening. Gaudu was born in Landivisiau near Landerneau, where the first yellow jersey will be awarded on Saturday. Both were passionate spectators, aged 12, the last time the Tour de France started from Brest in 2008. They aren’t the first locals to enjoy the Grand Départ on home soil. Before Jean-Pierre Genêt, a native from Brest who was a team-mate of Raymond Poulidor with Gan-Mercier in 1974 after he wore the Maillot Jaune for one day in 1968, Jean Malléjac had the privilege to start the 1952 Tour de France in Brest. He couldn’t break away on stage 1 to Rennes but was awarded the combativity prime the day after in Le Mans. He was more successful the following year as he won stage 5, had the Maillot Jaune for five days and finished second overall. Malléjac is indeed one of the five Breton riders to have made the final podium of the Tour de France, along with the four winners Lucien Petit-Breton, Jean Robic, Louison Bobet and Bernard Hinault. Stage 1 of the 2021 Tour de France will pass 5km away from Dirinon, where Malléjac was born, and finish in Landerneau, where he died in 2000 at the age of 71.

Van der Poel: “Stage 1 is comparable to a big classic”
Even though he’s yet to make his Tour de France debut, Mathieu van der Poel is one of the super stars on the start line of the 108th Tour de France in Brest. He made a huge impact by showing up at the teams presentation with his whole Alpecin-Fenix dressed in a replica of the jersey worn by his grand-father Raymond Poulidor in his glorious days. “It was a very nice way to pay tribute to him and it was successful”, MVDP said in a pre-race press conference. “I enjoyed doing the photos and videos. Now I’m gonna do everything I can to win a stage. Stage 1 and stage 2 would be great but this is my first Tour and I’m here to discover the Grand Tours. It’s not gonna be easy. I’ve recognised the last 30km of stage 1. It’s comparable with a big classic like the Tour of Flanders but the GC guys will also want to compete at the front and not lose any time. It’s gonna be an interesting race to watch.” Alpecin-Fenix will be an interesting team to follow indeed as they have several cards to play in fast finishes with Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier who are already stage winners of La Vuelta and the Giro d’Italia. “I have my own ambition here, I also want to win a stage”, said Philipsen, 23, who already took part in the Tour de France as the youngest rider in 2019 [with three top 10 before his withdrawal]. The Belgian sprinter was battling with a knee injury recently but was adamant that he’s 100% fine now.

Alejandro Valverde the oldest, Fred Wright the youngest
The peloton of the 108th Tour de France is formed of 184 riders (8 more than last year) representing 27 countries. 33 riders are French (vs 39 last year), 22 from Belgium, 17 from Spain, 14 from The Netherlands, 12 from Germany , 11 from Denmark, 10 from Australia (vs 2 last year) and Great-Britain, 9 from Italy (vs 16 last year). The youngest rider is Britain’s Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), 22 and the oldest is Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), 41, who has already started the Tour de France 13 times (the record holder is Sylvain Chavanel with 18) while Mark Cavendish and Tony Martin have 12, Pierre Rolland and Imanol Erviti 11. 45 riders are doing the Tour for the first time, the oldest of them being Victor De La Parte (TotalEnergies), aged 35. Nine of them have never taken part in a Grand Tour before and that includes stage 1 hot favourite Mathieu van der Poel.

David Gaudu described stage 1 finale
David Gaudu, Valentin Madouas and Arnaud Démare expressed the numerous ambitions of Groupama-FDJ with the input of the locals. “The run in to La Fosse aux Loups is complicated and technical”, Gaudu explained. “The will be tension, crashes and splits in the peloton. We’ll have to remain focused and cautious. After the last curve, it’s a narrow street and the first uphill stretch is steep. It’s a never ending uphill. Once we see the finish line, there are 300 to 400 metres remaining and it looks very long. It was touching to see my name everywhere on the road when we recognized stage 1. It was nice to see people at the teams presentation after it was behind closed doors in Nice last year. I had family members in the crowd. It was even more emotional for Valentin [Madouas].” The latter confirmed: “I’ll remember it all of my life. I expect even more people on the road sides. It feels strange to be racing on roads that I know at perfection where I didn’t expect the Tour de France to come. I’m part of the plan for hunting for stage wins and I’ll have a support role for David and Arnaud. We’ll form only one team.” Démare added: “I’m super happy to come back to the Tour de France. I do it with the confidence I gained in winning four stages and the cyclamen jersey at the Giro d’Italia. A successful Tour de France would start with a win.”

Cosnefroy to team up with Van Avermaet
Benoît Cosnefroy is another popular French rider returning after he wore the polka dot jersey for fifteen days last year. He’s no longer associated with Romain Bardet at AG2R-Citroën. Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Australia’s Ben O’Connor are their climbers now. Cosnefroy also shares the leadership with former yellow jersey holder Greg Van Avermaet for some specific stages. “We are yet to decide which one of us will be favoured”, the Frenchman emphasized. “However, I’ll take the first two stages like one-day races. I like it that way, without calculating. I’m far from being the only candidate for the stage finish in Landerneau. It’ll be necessary to invent something.”

Peter Sagan embarks on his tenth Tour de France
Peter Sagan already holds the record of points classification victories in the Tour de France but his desire to add one more to his seven titles is intact, especially after he surrendered to Sam Bennett last year. “This is my tenth Tour de France”, the newly crowned Slovakian champion declared. “I’ll first think of winning some stages and then take the green jersey if possible but everyone realized last year that it’s not that obvious that I’m necessarily the winner. There are a lot of favourites for stage 1. It’s not just about me. A lot of guys are interested, not only the pure sprinters but also Julian Alaphilippe, Sonny Colbrelli… even me, but it depends how the race goes. Being successful at the Tour de France is not all about the shape, it’s about luck as well.” Sagan’s team Bora-Hansgrohe comes to the Tour with GC ambitions for Wilco Kelderman and a very enthusiastic neophyte called Ide Schelling.

Guillaume Martin distances himself from the overall classification
One pre-Tour de France regular topic is which Frenchman will finish first overall. It was Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) last year but the climber from Normandy expressed different ambitions this time. “The Tour de France is something you never fully master”, the cyclist and philosopher explained. “This is my sixth Tour de France, I had a good performance there [12th and 11th in the past two editions], but I never had the bang I’m going for this time. For the first time, I’m going to distance myself from the general classification and take more risks to aim for a stage victory. It feels strange because the essence and the nobility of cycling is the GC but on paper, the course suits me less this year and I need to stay kind of fresh with the prospective of the Olympics. You must also know how to renew yourself so as not to fall into a form of weariness.”
@ASO

Key points:

Ø Before the presentation of the 184 riders of the 108th Tour de France to the enthusiastic Breton crowd near the harbour in Brest, some star riders took part in several press conferences.

Ø Super teams Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers expressed their ambitions to take the yellow jersey sooner or later.

Ø Overall winner in 2014, Vincenzo Nibali is also back to Brest where he made his Tour de France debut in 2008.

Team presentation broadcast live
The riders who have reached the location of the Grand Départ have mostly been on their bike to recognize the courses of the first two stages so far. The teams presentation is scheduled today at 6.30pm at “Parc à Chaînes” in the harbour district of Brest. It’s the first broadcasted event of the 108th Tour de France and an opportunity to discover the new jerseys made on purpose for this race. 22 broadcasters from 170 countries will show it. It includes four local TV stations: Tébéo, Tébésud, TVR, Brezhowed (a web TV in Breton language). The images of the teams presentation will also be accessible on the official digital platforms including www.letour.fr.

Jumbo-Visma: Wout van Aert dreams of the yellow jersey… Primoz Roglic too
Primoz Roglic is back to the Tour de France after he missed out on the overall victory on the penultimate day last year. “We took a different approach this time”, the Slovenian explained during a press conference in Brest. “I haven’t raced for two months. But I’ve already had breaks before and I’m usually ready when I come from altitude training camp. I’ve checked both time trial courses. We know from last year how crucial they can be. I’ve put more work than last year into my time trialling.” Newly crowned Belgian champion Wout van Aert is equally focused on the first time trial as stage 5 could lead him to wearing the yellow jersey in Laval… if not before. “It’s clear for everyone that I can go for a stage win in the first week and we’ll also target the best possible GC with Primoz. The yellow jersey is of course in my mind. [Stage 1 winner in 2019] Mike Teunissen explained to me a little bit how it feels.” However, sports director Grisha Niermann warned that Jumbo-Visma won’t handle all the responsibilities in pacing the peloton like last year. “We’re aware that UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers are a lot stronger than last year”, he said. “At a certain point, we’ll play a different tactics.

Brest, city of Grand Départ novelties since 1952
It’s the fourth Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Brest. On the occasion of the first one, the daily combativity prize was created in 1952. This year, the general public has its say as it represents one vote in the jury throughout the official social networks of the event. The touristic guide of the Tour de France was also introduced in 1952. It was then called « le petit Wermel » since it was made by event director Elie Wermelinger (until 1993). Heritage and anecdotes about sport and history can be found on www.letour.fr with the description of each stage. The first daily video highlights were made in 1952 as well with the input of cameram Henri Persin. They were broadcast the day after in the midday news on French TV. The first live broadcast is dated from 8 July 1958 in the Aubisque climb. Nowadays the Tour de France can be seen in 190 countries on 100 channels including 60 live.

Ineos Grenadiers has four cards to play with Thomas, Carapaz, Porte and Geoghegan Hart
All four riders taken successively to the press conference of Ineos Grenadiers have been asked the same question: is the order in which you come symbolic? Only Geraint Thomas replied “yes” and he was first to show up indeed. Leadership inside the British team being the main topic, the Welshman outlined: “The communication between us has been good all year. It’s the main thing. We can use this as an advantage.” Second on line, Richard Carapaz said: “I’m better prepared than ever. Compared to last year that had been a strange year, we’ve trained and planned for the Tour all year this time. We come with a strong and powerful team and the race situation will decide which one of us the team will ride for.” Third overall last year, Richie Porte downplayed his own aim at leading the team. “I haven’t won a Grand Tour [at the difference of Thomas, Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Hart]. I had my dream result last year. I just enjoy being back with this team at the moment. Pogacar is the benchmark. He and Roglic have that kick to open a gap and take bonus seconds as well, so to use the strength of our team is the only way to isolate them.” Geoghegan Hart, the winner of the 2020 Giro d’Italia, concluded: “The Tour de France is the race in which most riders can trace the origins of their love for cycling. I’m starting my first one with the most experienced group you can find in cycling, also in delivering the yellow jersey to Paris. The start in Brittany, which is a beautiful area, reminds me of the south of the UK with the Gaelic culture and the landscape. It’s massive for me to be here at the pinnacle of pro cycling.”

Simon Yates to take over from Michael Matthews in stage hunting
Going into its 10th straight Tour de France, Australia’s Team BikeExchange has named Lucas Hamilton as their GC contender and Michael Mathews, Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves for hunting for stage wins. Matthews is the first expected to enter in action. “The first two stages look quite interesting”, said the green jersey winner of the 2017 Tour de France. “They are much harder than everyone realizes. They award 50 points each for the green jersey, which can make a big gap to the pure sprinters. Stage 1 is not gonna be a straightforward bunch sprint. It’s very selective. There will be more riders involved than usual because the GC guys don’t want to lose any time. I’ve been working to be good at these sort of stages, not those that are too flat for me.” Simon Yates made a very direct answer. “I have no ambition for GC and I’ll be targeting stages from stage 8 onwards”, the Englishman declared. “I could have done well in the first two but we have better riders in the team. Mentally, it would have been too difficult for me to do Giro and Tour for GC. I also wouldn’t have come out of the Tour de France physically well for the Tokyo Olympics, which is a big goal for me, if I was racing for GC. It’s just better to go all in for a stage, take a few days off and then go for another one.”

Nibali and Mollema in the waiting room
Vincenzo Nibali has made his way back to Brest where he discovered the atmosphere of the Tour de France in 2008. “I remember it very well and it remains a wonderful memory”, said the winner of the 2014 Tour de France. “I wore the white jersey for a few days. This year, I’m not targeting GC. In my mind, Tadej Pogacar is the favourite. Depending on how my legs go, I might try something in the first few stages already. I’m here to break away and there’s a possibility that I’d quit the race before the end to focus on the Olympic road race. It was not easy to recover from the Giro but last week I’ve trained well for the national championship and the Tour de France.” Bauke Mollema, the other veteran from Trek-Segafredo, is back after crashing out last year on stage 13. “It was a complicated wrist injury”, the Dutchman recalled. “We’re here with a strong team, backing Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven for the sprints but it’s a more stressful than any other race. More fans make more noise. It’s no different this year. The start in Brittany has lots of ups and downs. Vincenzo and I will go for it in the mountains.”
@ASO

Key points:

Ø The headquarters of the 108th Tour de France is launched at Brest-Penfeld. The first four stages in Brittany revive the passion in the hotbed of French cycling despite a strict protocol that remains in place to fight Covid-19.

Ø Chris Froome spoke about his come-back to Brest thirteen years after his Tour de France debut. Valverde, Cavendish, Nibali and Gilbert are the other veterans from Brest 2008.

Ø Julian Alaphilippe and Mark Cavendish also have big memories in Brittany and expressed high ambitions for the first week.

CHILDREN SPOKE TO BARGUIL, MADOUAS, BONNAMOUR AND BIANNIC
The headquarters of the 108th Tour de France are up and running at the Parc Expo Penfeld in Brest, nearing the boulevard where Eddy Merckx won the prologue of his fifth winning Tour de France back in 1974. It’s been inaugurated by event director Christian Prudhomme along with politicians from Brest and Brittany, the hosting region of the Grand Départ. Starting the pre-race interviews, children from open centres project and young reporters of Radio Ponta were able to question Breton riders in a video-conference due to Covid-19 restrictions. Warren Barguil explained that he regularly rides his bike with female cyclists like Typhaine Laurance while Franck Bonnamour revealed that he only took up cycling at the age of 15. Valentin Madouas described how he combined studying engineering and cycling at the same time but former French champion Aude Biannic, a native from Landerneau where La Course by Tour de France avec FDJ will finish on Saturday, remained tight-lipped when asked how many wins she had in total. More press conferences will take place on Thursday and Friday before stage 1 from Brest to Landerneau on Saturday.

BACK TO THE ROOTS
Brest, the westernmost city in continental France, where the 108th Tour de France will kick off on Saturday, has already hosted the race on thirty occasions. Every Tour de France from 1906 to 1931 stopped in Brest, often coming from Cherbourg (405km) before heading to La Rochelle (470km). Brian Robinson, now 90, took the first ever stage win by a British rider in Brest, on 2 July 1958, after Italy’s Arrigo Padovan was relegated for tugging Robinson’s shirt.

JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE: “MÛR-DE-BRETAGNE IS SPECIAL TO ME” Being a French world champion at the start of the Tour de France, Julian Alaphilippe is under the spotlights. A few days after he became a dad for the first time, he took a low profile on the occasion of a pre-race press conference. “I’m not sure if this Tour suits me perfectly”, said the Deceuninck-Quick Step rider. “But the course makes it an open race. I’ll set my ambitions after the first week. The first two stages suit me. I can also do well in the first time trial on stage 5, based on my performances in the two time trials of the Tour de Suisse.” Although he’s one of the favourites for stage 1, the Frenchman knows the finale of stage 2 even better since he finished fifth of stage 4 in the 2012 Tour de Bretagne at Mûr-de-Bretagne. “I remember it very well”, Alaphilippe said. “It was one of my first category 2 races and that’s where my skills as a punchy rider were revealed.” In 2013, Alaphilippe won stage 4 of the Tour de Bretagne to Fougères but it’ll be a different finale there for stage 4 of this year’s Tour de France. It’ll suit the pure sprinters. The last Tour de France finish in Fougères was won by Mark Cavendish who took over from Alaphilippe to talk about the first week of racing. “It’s a dream to be here”, the Briton said. “I was prepared for anything and I happen to have already won in Fougères and Châteauroux in the past.” Team manager Patrick Lefévère had the last word to comment on Cavendish’s last minute inclusion into the team: “We called him in emergency but he’s like a substitute who enters the pitch at the 89th minute and scores the winning goal.”

VALVERDE, GILBERT, CAVENDISH, NIBALI AND FROOME ALREADY STARTED FROM BREST IN 2008
The Tour de France kicks off from Brest for the fourth time after 1952, 1974 and 2008. Every time, the defending champion was absent, successively Hugo Koblet, Luis Ocaña and Alberto Contador. Between 1974 and 2008, the Tour never visited Brest. Stage 6 to Mûr-de-Bretagne won by Dan Martin started from Brest in 2018. Thirteen years after the last Grand Départ, five riders of 2008 are still in contention and they’re probably the five biggest names among currently active cyclists: Alejandro Valverde and Philippe Gilbert who had come first and second in stage 1 to Plumelec, Mark Cavendish who was just five days away from the first of his thirty stage victories, the first one having taken place in Châteauroux where the Tour also returns this year, Vincenzo Nibali who was going to wear the white jersey from stage 12 to stage 15 and another neophyte named Chris Froome.

CHRIS FROOME: “BACK TO BREST MEANS I COME FULL CIRCLE” Chris Froome took part in his first Tour de France in 2008 as a neo pro with Barloworld but he was no stranger to Brittany as he already won the Mi-Août bretonne overall the year before as a member of the UCI World Cycling Centre. “I’m very excited ahead of the upcoming start in Brest where I discovered the Tour de France”, the four-time winner said in a pre-race press conference. “I come full circle now. Actually I come back to Brest again with a very similar mind-set as back in 2008, getting through the Tour de France to get back to my form of racing. My recovery process is behind me now. I’ve certainly been missing the Tour de France for two years. The first year, I watched it from a wheel chair. Knowing the characters and the politics in the race, I enjoyed being a fan again. I didn’t necessarily doubt I’d come back. From the moment the doctors said I’d fully recovered, there was nothing to stop me from coming back and I did everything that was on my power to be here again. I wouldn’t use relief as the right word, it’s a stepping stone. I’m here for lifting my level up. I’m excited. We’ve got a fantastic group of guys, a team with different ambitions, not just one goal. I can use my experience to help Michael Woods placing high on GC and target stage wins. I’ll personally try to do the best job possible to support the guys after I spent the last decade with a team doing that for me. I’m obviously in a very different situation. I haven’t got back to my previous level yet but I’m confident I will.”
@ASO