Winning a stage, "it's easier when you're twenty minutes behind in the general", estimates the French climber of the DSM team, ranked 3 min 01 sec from the yellow jersey and 18 sec from the podium, who is entrusted to the press after a cleaning outing on Monday during the rest day in Carcassonne.

QUESTION: Are you ready to take risks in the Pyrenees, even if it means losing places in the general classification?

ANSWER: "We'll see how the situation evolves. For the moment, I can see how far I've come to be in such a good position after two weeks. All doors are open. It's true that this ranking certainly prevents me from going to a breakaway, like for example on Alpe d'Huez. It's easier when you're twenty minutes behind in the general standings. But I also like racing like that and I would like to win a good one on the pedals. I don't know if it will be possible, because they are very, very strong up front. But for me it's important, after a mixed start to the season, to find myself with the best up front over the fortnight."

Q: Can your victory at Peyragudes in 2017 inspire you?

A: "It's an excellent memory, I was not great all day and then finally I had found the opening in the final. On this Tour, when Vingegaard and Pogacar accelerate, I feel at the limit. Nobody can compete with them. But you never know. Over the next three days, we'll have to be tough on evil, resistant in the head. Because they will certainly attack far from the finish again and that can be my chance to win a stage, trying to anticipate, if I have a little energy left."

Q: How do you explain that there is still no French victory on this Tour?

A: "It's true that we don't have the superior runner that we could have with Julian (Alaphilippe) in other years on a defined type of finish. We don't have real sprinters (Arnaud) Démare is not there. And David Gaudu and myself, we are in the 5, 6 best in the mountains, but not in the very best. So I think that there is unfortunately no real surprise "Here is the best level you can find in cycling. There are six days left and I think there will be opportunities, even if it will be complicated."

Q: With zero wins but two French in the top 8 should we see the glass half empty or half full?

A: "To be honest, it's harder to do a general classification than to get up on certain days and go all out for the stage victory. I'm not saying that it's easy to win the Tour But I think that we depreciate a place in the top 7, the top 8 on the Tour de France because the efforts to be made to get there, to be at that level, are immense. +one shot+ over 21 stages. It's 21 stages at full speed. Of course, I want to win back on the Tour, but I find it even more rewarding to fight every day with the very best at the pedaling in the mountains."

Q: Do you expect a third week as intense as the first two?

A: "Ah yes. We can see that the peloton is tired, everyone is a bit at the limit. There was not a day in the Tour de France where we were able to let it go, rest a little bit and discuss. I have the impression that I have not breathed at all on this Tour de France. The last three mountain stages, it will be the final fight for the general classification so we can expect movement. That going to be explosive."

Comments collected in a video press conference

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