Pineau’s jersey at risk
This is Jerome Pineau’s ninth Tour de France. He held the polka dot jersey for five stages in 2006, and having match that number already this year, he plans to beat that record.
"Tomorrow is a more difficult stage when I will have to race out front in order to get more points for the polka dot jersey," Pineau told Cyclingnews in Montargis on Friday moring. "There are more than 40 points at stake, so it is a stage that is going to be important."
Despite not being a true climber, and being in only 82nd place overall, the Quick Step cyclist is determined to defend his jersey as long as possible. When the Tour gets into the mountains tomorrow and hits the Alps on Sunday, Pineau will have some serious competition to take his jersey before Paris.
"If I can score all of the points tomorrow then I have a chance of defending the lead in Morzine - I know I'll have to drop back on the last climb. But I feel good. I have good legs so I don't want to set myself any limits. Except for the Champs-Elysées: I'm pretty sure I'm not going to keep it until Paris!" he said, laughing.
The seventh is a medium-mountain stage with a summit finish. If Pineau can catch all the points at the finish long, the stronger climbers will be far enough behind by the Alps for the Frenchman to have a fighting change.
"It would be a pity letting the jersey go without putting up a proper fight. That's not the way I am. I have an attacking personality, so as long as my legs respond to what I want to do, I'll go for it," Pineau said as a warning to those who might be after the jersey.
His team, Quickstep, has plans for Pineau even if he doesn't make the escape group on Saturday. Sylvain Chavanel, who helped him take the king-of-the-mountain jersey in stage two, is in fifth place overall, well within reach of the podium.
“I’m thrilled,” said teammate Pineau. “Sylvain and I had a great race. If I captured the polka dot jersey Chavanel also gets some credit, since not only did he win the stage, he helped me on all the mountain grand prix. In the Giro d’Italia we won two stages, one of them I won and I worn the red jersey for a few days; here at the Tour de France history is repeating itself, actually, we’re doing even better and let’s hope it stays that way.”
Matt Lloyd was a challenger in today’s hilly sixth stage. Lloyd managed to stay in the breakaway group to earn points on the first three of the six climbs, winning him four points behind Pineau’s 13.
''Ah … I have a few points in the bank,'' Lloyd said of his stage-two effort. ''I anticipated to go out and try and get some points. I felt OK at the start but for the first 150 kilometres there was a lot more descending and flat than I anticipated.''
Mathieu Perget is sure to put up a fight as well, only one point behind Pineau as of the sixth stage. The humble Frenchman was award the Fighting Spirit today for spearheading the breakaway which kept him in the lead for most of the stage.
“A breakaway is only successful if you cross the line first,” Pineau said. "I would like to keep the jersey but I also have a teammate - and good friend - who is in excellent form. Together with him, we could also choose to share the jersey."
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