Thomas Voeckler revealed his Tour de France 2012 intent
Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar finished fourth during the 2011 version of the Tour de France and the cyclist has insisted that he is not fully possessed for the coming edition of the French Grand Tour.
The French rode the previous version of the French race brilliantly and finished at the 4th overall position.
Cadel Evans of Team BMC occupied the top position with Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck claiming the second and the third positions in the respective order.
He told L’Equipe, “I didn’t go to Africa thinking about the Tour, otherwise you wouldn’t do anything”.
“I’m not one of those riders who are obsessed by the Tour. I’ve never thought that you needed to repeat the same pre-Tour programme just because it worked well the previous year”.
“I just try to follow a certain logical preparation and the Tropicale Amissa Bongo was part of that”.
“I’m on a Pro Continental team, and we don’t have as many options as the WorldTour teams”.
Thomas is having a terrific season and has already secured several victories during the first part of the 2012 season.
The cyclist registered his first win of the season at the Brabantse Pijl, he finished the race at the first position and secured the 3rd stage of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
Voeckler finished 4th at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 5th at the Amstel Gold Race and occupied the 8th overall position at the Tour of Flanders.
The 32-year-old rode perfectly in the previous version of the Tour de France and held the yellow jersey for ten consecutive stages.
Voeckler noted that the Tour de France is undoubtedly his favourite race of the year but that has nothing to do with his attachment with other cycling events and Spring Classics is on top of the list.
The French crowd wanted to see their local hero at the top highest podium place especially after he came so close to the victory.
Thomas was hugely criticised by the media after his 4th place finish last year.
“I’m prepared to listen to critics. I know how to accept remarks, but I know how to respond, too”.
The 2012 version of the Tour de France is scheduled from June 30- July 22 and Voeckler is looking forward to take his performance to the next level at the coming edition of the race.
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