Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Monday, April 18, 2022 at 6:24 p.m. Sometimes, it is useless to look far for the reasons for a victory… Geoffrey Bouchard did not really understand why it precisely smiled on him Monday, on the first stage of the Tour of the Alps. But it was the case. At 30, Geoffrey Bouchard has probably just had the biggest day of his career. A professional for three years, he is the leader of the Tour des Alpes after winning the first stage. And yet, “it was not at all the plan to go in the breakaway”: “I don’t know, I was last in the peloton, I ate my cereal bar, I came back up and I attacked. We left, we took the lead easily, so I told myself that it could do it, that the stage was not very long…”
“I was afraid it would happen again”Best climber of the Vuelta in 2019 and of the Giro last year, the rider of the AG2R – Citroën team does not have such an imperishable memory, particularly for the Tour d’Italie where he had come close to stage victory in similar circumstances: “I had been caught up in the last meters, I had them there a bit (smile). I was afraid it would happen again, but that Last year the peloton came back, so this time I wanted my breakaway companion to stay calm, because I knew I had to manage my effort to give my best. preferred to savor only in the last 200 meters.”
Indeed, we feared until the end that the Frenchman would be joined again, and he only finished with a five-second lead over the rest of the pack: “I was not advancing with headwind, I was afraid it would hit on the last little climb, but it did. I knew that if I stayed with the best, I had very little chance of winning. That’s it, I’m imposed in the breakaway, I had great sensations and great legs. I worked well, it’s great.”