Is Pierre Rolland the only hope for Team Europcar’s Tour de France?
Pierre Rolland is charged up for the most esteemed cycling race of the season, the Tour de France.
He will lead the French side, Team Europcar at the Tour and is eyeing the polka-dot jersey at the race.
The French Professional cyclist is having a tough season with only one stage victory in his bag which came during the stage 3 of the Etoile de Besseges.
It will be Rolland’s fourth appearance at the Tour after his 21st, 58th and the 10th place finishes in the previous three editions of the race.
He secured the tenth overall position during the Tour de France 2011 and also won the young rider classifications at the race.
Team Director Jean-Rene Bernaudeau is content with the selected team and has high hopes from the selected side.
"Our selection was partly built around Pierre," he said. "Thomas is our natural leader. But we will play the standings with Pierre".
Pierre definitely has high expectations from the race but is also practical in his approach about the overall classifications.
"I do not think about winning [the Tour]. What I did last year was great, I never thought I could be at that level,” he cited.
“The public wants a Frenchman on the top step. I did everything to be better this year and to make the best of my potential”.
“However, there is a gap between expectations and my abilities".
The team is built around Rolland and the selectors have chosen the best side for the race to maximum facilitate Pierre.
"We have built a team where there will be consistency around him with real lieutenants," said Bernaudeau.
Team Europcar is amongst the four teams invited at the Tour through wild-card along with Team Cofidis, Team Saur-Sojasun and Team Argos-Shimano.
Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra), Anthony Charteau (Fra), Sébastien Chavanel (Fra), Damien Gaudin (Fra), Cyril Gautier (Fra), Vincent Jerome (Fra), Christophe Kern (Fra), Pierre Rolland (Fra) and Thomas Voeckler (Fra).
It will be interesting to see how the Tour unfolds as we are not more than a day away from the most fascinating cycling contest across the globe.
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