Finally a French victory!
Christophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma) won the 19th stage of the Tour de France between Castelnau-Magnoac and Cahors, after an overpowered sprint.
The Frenchman told behind the scenes of this victory after the finish.
Is this the best day of your career?
CHRISTOPHE LAPORTE.
Yes.
Even if I don't forget Paris Nice
(it won a stage this year)
.
There, it's still the Tour de France, it's the best there is.
You finally bring a first French stage victory on this Tour…
Many French people were waiting for this victory, I am very happy to bring it to them.
It happens towards the end of the Tour de France, everyone is happy, so much the better.
You left Cofidis for Jumbo last year.
How much did this transfer contribute to your victory today?
This passage at Jumbo contributed 100% to this victory.
It's a lot of work up front.
The last two months, I spent six weeks of training at altitude, I ran the Dauphiné… It was a huge preparation, far from home.
In this team nothing is left to chance, preparation, nutrition, equipment… And all the riders are very good riders, they are the world elite.
It is thanks to them that I am here.
I have a form that I have never had before.
Did you have to do the sprint?
The briefing was clear, the priority was Jonas (Vingegaard, the yellow jersey), we had to protect him as best as possible and take him to 3 km.
It could have been a very nervous day, it was, but not so much in the end.
We ran ahead, as usual.
We had planned to do the sprint afterwards.
And about 100 km from the finish, Wout (van Aert) said to me: This
is for you
.
I'll take care of Jonas until the 3 km, and you can do the sprint
.
Everything went well, and at 3 km, they said to me, go ahead, you have carte blanche.
It went really well.
Can your team still win the last two stages?
I think that it is possible.
We already have five wins, we are already very happy.
Wout is motivated for tomorrow (the time trial).
Jonas can also run very well.
Wout has already won on the Champs-Elysées and if he can do it again, we won't miss it.
How do you respond to people who say your team wins too much?
It makes me laugh.
All the riders, we work very hard for that, we do our best on each stage, to win.
When you have a rider like Wout van Aert, he can win a lot of stages.
We also have one of the best climbers in the world, Jonas.
No runner asked us to leave some.
And if another team won that much, I wouldn't ask them.
How do you organize yourself in the team with all these riders and all these objectives?
At the start of each stage, we have a very precise plan, we know who is going to do what.
It really helps in the head of every runner.
We have objectives, priority over others, and when they are achieved, we can move on to the next one.
This is what allows us to accumulate yellow jersey, green jersey, stage wins...
Can you tell us a few words about Wout van Aert?
He's a champ.
He brings a lot to the team, and to me personally.
He is always moving forward, he is always very motivated.
He's one of the best riders in the world as a whole, he brings motivation, he helps me to surpass myself, we saw that in the classics.
He really is a group leader.