PIERRE LATOUR

AG 2 R L A MO N D I A L E

I’ve just got back from a two-week training camp at altitude in Sierra Nevada. There’s not much to do up there except train and rest, though we stayed at a sports centre where there’s a spa and a swimming pool, so it felt a bit like a holiday. The cycling wasn’t a holiday, however. We started off with long rides, lots of kilometres, then we upped the intensity once we were acclimatised. Two weeks is about right – enough time to get really into it and focus, but not so long that we get bored.

You never know how you are going to go afterwards – my legs always feel a bit weird for a few days, but racing unblocks them, and the evidence we had trained well came at the GP Plumelec Morbihan, where we came first and third with Alexis Vuillermoz and Samuel Dumoulin. It worked perfectly – we got two guys, Christophe Riblon and Mathias Frank, into the break, which stayed away for a long, long time. With two riders there we didn’t have to work, so we were ready to take on the race when it came back. I took Alexis up the bunch, dropped him off near the front, he attacked and won. Perfect!

Next up is the Dauphiné, but I’m also looking further ahead. It’s going to be my first Tour this year, and I can’t help but be excited about the stage finish in Romans-sur-Isère, which is my home town. Most riders will never experience that in their entire careers, but I’m getting it in my first Tour.

The Tour isn’t all about me, though. We’re going to the race to win it. Romain Bardet has come second, and if you can come second in the Tour, you can win it.

I’ve been looking at the route since I attended the presentation last year, and we looked in more detail at the training camp. There are lots of hard climbs which I haven’t done before – La Planche des Belles Filles, and the ones in the Pyrenees. Chambéry is a very hard stage, and the Izoard, of course, is going to be tough. We’ll get a better look at the Mont du Chat, from stage 9, at the Dauphiné, and I’ve ridden the Galibier in training before.

I’ll also hope to have the chance to get into a break myself. Easier said than done, however – it took me a long time to get into the right break in the Vuelta, and at the Tour, it’s going to be even harder.

I can’t help but be excited about the stage inish in Romans-sur-Isère, which is my home town.