Thomas Voeckler
The French fans’ favourite on his last ever appearance in the Tour de France, his old Miguel Indurain poster and the glorious art of the attack
Cyclist: How emotional do you feel about your final appearance in the Tour de France this summer?
Thomas Voeckler: In my last year as a pro each race I take part in feels a little bit different because I know it’s the last time I put that number on my jersey. But once we start I have to forget about this because I want to keep concentrating on the race and I cannot think about the fact that it’s the last time I’ll race it. But it is emotional and it feels different, for sure.
Cyc: What’s your favourite memory from the 14 Tours you’ve ridden?
TV: There are too many different moments to say there is one that I remember more than another. I wore the yellow jersey for 10 days in 2004 and I wore yellow again for 10 days in 2011. Then I won a different jersey [King of the Mountains] and won two stages in 2012. I also remember my first stage win in 2009. I had a different kind of feeling after all of them. But if I had to keep only one memory I would say maybe the 2004 stage to Plateau de Beille [when Voeckler defended the yellow jersey through the Pyrenees]. But it is very close with the others.
Cyc: You’re known for your attacks on climbs and breakaways. Did you choose your riding style or did it choose you?
TV: As a cyclist you have to find a way to exist and to perform, and my way is – and always was – to get in front of the race on the climbs or in breakaways on flat stages. It’s not so easy because the teams with sprinters control the race on the flat but in the mountains or in the breakaways it is possible. Whether you wait and attack in the last 20km or get in the breakaway in the first 20km you have to get the right feeling and analyse the moment. It’s difficult but it makes cycling interesting.
Cyc: You’ve always been a popular rider with fans. Do you enjoy entertaining?
TV: I like to make a show. But I like to make a show for a result, not just for the sake of making a show.
Cyc: Can we expect you still to go on the attack this year?
TV: I’m not going to say to myself that I have to win this stage or that race. There is no special focus on winning. I just want to enjoy my last races. But when the breakaway is possible and my legs feel OK… I’ll go.
Cyc: Which riders did you enjoy watching as a fan?
TV: Not one rider especially but I started to ride during the years 1991 to 1992 and this was the time of Miguel Indurain winning the Tour. At the very beginning of my career I had a poster of him in my bedroom. This is where it all started.
Cyc: What is going through your mind during breakaways and attacks?
TV: For me it’s not so much about
suffering because what I don’t like at all is doing nothing in a race. I don’t like to stay in the peloton and wait for the next day. My conception of cycling is the attack. When you don’t have the possibility to win the race like the favourites, you have to attack. You have no other solution. You have to attack and that makes my career different, compared to if I was to stay in the peloton, wait for the last climb and try to keep my strength for the other stages.
Cyc: What’s the noise like when you’re in front of your own fans at the Tour?
TV: With all the people along the mountains and along the roads it makes me feel like I’m in a football team that suddenly has a 12th player. The crowd really pushes you along and the noise and the passion gives you the strength to climb faster and faster. It’s a feeling that is very special. Really it is difficult to describe.
Cyc: Are you looking forward to a particular climb in this year’s Tour?
TV: Not one in particular but the Pyrenees are my favourite mountains, just because they are not as long as the Alps. But it’s also a place where I used to ride even when I was a young rider before I became a professional. I can remember riding there when I was 19 or 20 years old so I have a special feeling with the Pyrenees.
Cyc: Describe the physical challenge of battling in the mountains at the Tour.
TV: It depends on where you are in that moment. If you are in the gruppetto – because that is part of cycling at times – it’s not the same feeling as when you are in the front of the race. Actually cycling is often more difficult when you’re in the group behind than when you are in the group at the front. They are very different feelings. At the back, you just have the pain and suffering of trying to get to the finish line within the finishing time. When you’re fighting for the victory in the mountains it’s a different kind of pain and pressure.
Cyc: You are known for your gurning facial expressions. Does body language matter in the breakaway?
TV: This is especially important for the guys fighting for the overall lead because for them each day is really important. For guys like me who are trying to make breakaways it’s less important. But if I’m in a breakaway with different guys in the mountains you do try to find signs to see if they are having a good day or not.
Cyc: You won the Tour de Yorkshire in 2016. Did you enjoy riding in Britain?
TV: The Tour de Yorkshire is a different race compared to the others because it is a concentrated mix of lots of different kinds of racing in three days. Each year you have some really difficult stages, others that are a little bit quiet, but the main thing that makes it different is the people and the crowds who are really supporting us. We, the riders, feel the people are happy to see us riding our bikes and that is really nice.
Cyc: Reflecting on all the fans who have enjoyed cheering you on over the last 17 years, can you remember a particularly special moment?
TV: One time in 2004 after I won the stage in the yellow jersey, I was in a big city in France – I don’t remember where – and after standing on the podium I had to go in the team car with a member of staff. During the first 100m hundreds and hundreds of people were touching the car and asking me for a photo or an autograph and I got a little bit scared at this moment because I was so young [25]. In only a few days I had become very popular. This is the moment I said to myself: my life will be a little bit different from now on.
Thomas Voeckler was speaking at Richmond Hill Primary School, a Yorkshire Bank Bike Library in Leeds. Visit ybonline.co.uk/bikelibraries