Toulouse (AFP)

It's a must for a few minutes to get on your bike: the famous pre-stage briefing of the strategically crucial Tour de France is an exercise in style for sports directors, who must find the right words.

"Good shit!", Concludes Thierry Marichal, one of the sports directors of the Cofidis team. For ten minutes, the eight riders of the team, attentive, listened to the instructions of their staff, grouped at the bottom of the bus near a TV screen where GPS maps, geographical information and weather.

The scene takes place in Binche, the morning of the 3rd stage. "At the exit of Reims, it will take his balls in hand and go," hammered Marichal. "Do not hesitate guys, we will not be alone!" Says Pierre-Luc Perichon, one of the most experienced riders of the group.

That day, the tone is calm despite a few sharper words: the staff, satisfied with the first steps, strives to give confidence to the group. "Do not put pressure on yourself," Alain Deloeuil, the other sports director, repeated several times. "You proved yourself that you have the high level," says Marichal.

- "Lead wire" -

The speech is precise. "It's not an easy exercise, you have to try to find the words to motivate them, to be relevant to give them the right direction to follow," explains Deloeuil.

The briefing is getting ready. The night before, the strategy is discussed between sports directors. Sometimes the general manager intervenes. Often, he trusts his technical team. This one shares the work: PowerPoint presentation, cartography, weather, wind, strategy ...

Almost all of them will debrief each runner individually in the evening at the hotel. "To wake up, they already have clear ideas about what awaits them", justifies Nicolas Portal, the sports director of the Ineos team.

Then comes the big moment, about an hour and a half from the start of the stage. "The briefing, it gives the + the most of the day.It is the thread that connects the runners throughout the stage," summarizes Julien Jurdie, sports director of the team AG2R-La Mondiale.

"Of course," says Nicolas Portal, "everything can change in the race if there is an unexpected event, but it's so much easier to react when the guys know in advance exactly what they need to do."

Another imperative: know your group. Do not put him to sleep, but do not stress him. An exercise in style, in short. "You have to have the tone that allows you to get your message across, to involve the whole group," said Julien Jurdie, who does not hesitate, sometimes, to get into the towers to convince his men.

Some like, like Alexis Gougeard (AG2R): "I need someone to ignite me, to be slapped in", assures the Norman. "If we are too nice to me, it will not work," adds his compatriot David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).

- "Knowing how to juggle" -

"Every sports director has his own style," says Alain Deloeuil. "The ideal is that one is complementary" in the way of addressing runners. He, for example, "tends to get into the mouth to shake a little".

At Ineos, the team of favorites Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, we avoid the opposite of the cloakroom. "Guys here, they're not in a football game, they're stressed, because it's dangerous every day, it's been a month since they think about it, there's no need to add ", assumes Nicolas Portal. "It would add excitement, tension, nervousness, they could lose their professionalism."

The exercise is all the more vigorous as it is necessary to manage the ego. "You have to know how to juggle, sometimes support a little more on one of them because we know that it will reassure him or motivate him", confirms Julien Jurdie.

Accept his mistakes, too. "It can happen that we are upset," admits Alain Deloeuil. "When all is well, it's easy", continues the boss of the Groupama-FDJ team, Marc Madiot. "It's bad when it's difficult."

The key is finally the exchange. "You have to let them talk," insists Portal. Madiot agrees: "Sometimes, there is simply no need to intervene, problems, they also know how to manage them."

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