Tour de France in the wheel of Pierre-Luc Périchon: "to gain the respect of other teams"

Cofidis rider Pierre-Luc Périchon rinsed at the finish of the first stage of the Tour de France 2020, in Nice.

RFI / Thomas de Saint-Leger

Text by: Thomas-Sean de Saint Leger Follow

5 mins

Since leaving Nice, Pierre-Luc Périchon tells us about his Tour de France seen from the inside.

In this fourth episode of his diaries, the experienced rider from Cofidis explains his role as road captain of the northern team, against the backdrop of Guillaume Martin's third place to defend.

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Road captain

 “

The road captain is the guarantor of the group's serenity.

I have to re-motivate the troops when necessary, calm tensions, make the link between the sports director's car and the riders, but also make decisions.

I have to react quickly, depending on the stage scenario.

For example, when Guillaume Martin, our leader, fell on the Ile de Ré road on Tuesday, we had to prevent panic from setting in.

You become a road captain quite naturally

: in a group, a leader imposes himself by his results, a road captain thanks to his behavior.

You need good interpersonal skills, experience, a good reading of the race to make the right decisions and know how to put your personal interests aside to favor those of the team.

As I don't have direct pressure for the result, I can give myself 100% for the collective.

When there are moments of tension with other teams, I also sometimes play a role of mediator.

It's quite rare, but we have just spent three intense days, with a lot of electricity in the peloton.

In addition, I have a fairly good level of English, which allows me to explain a situation with foreign runners.

Recently, at times a bit hot, I had to explain myself to the Italian Marco Marcato or the Austrian Marco Haller, to make them understand why we had to "rub" and go back in line.

 "

Earn credit

With Guillaume

(Martin)

, we are in third place in the general classification, but I'm not sure that teams like Bahrain-McLaren or Movistar realize it.

They sometimes wonder why we come to "rub" in the first positions because they were not used to it, given our average results in recent years.

We have to earn the respect of other teams, so we have to impose ourselves physically to protect our leader in tricky stages like those of recent days.

For now, as Guillaume's third place is temporary, the effect on the others is not automatic.

He would have to be third on arrival in Paris for our status to evolve in the long term.

In addition, you have to understand that many teams want to get in front to react in the event of major maneuvers

: there is the yellow jersey, the second, those who play stage victories.

That's a lot, and there isn't room for everyone and the third position is not totally advantageous.

There is also a small "fight" with other French teams for the position of first French.

 "

A tribute to Poulidor

The Tour passed Thursday through Saint-Léonard de Noblat, the village of another great personality who died last year, the former darling of the French, “the eternal second” of the Grande Boucle of the 1960s and 1970s: Raymond Poulidor .

When Poupou is everywhere ...

Thomas-Sean of Saint Leger

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  • Tour de France 2020

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