Teams presentation: Big cheers for Contador, Dumoulin & co

Even the riders who were in doubt during the day attended the presentation. Pierre-Luc Périchon of Bretagne-Séché Environnement was down with food poisoning. FDJ’s Matthieu Ladagnous had missed the press conference in the afternoon because he was busy at the dental clinic. The nerve was removed from a tooth. “It’s probably better that it happens here than a few days later during the race”, the Frenchman said.
Attending the teams presentation doesn’t mean starting the Tour. It happened to Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and Paris-Nice stage winner Michael Matthews one year ago. “This time I’m not here with bandages after crashing”, he said with a large. “I’m ready to try and win a stage at the Tour too.”
One of his big rivals for the sprints, Alexander Kristoff, wasn’t sure he could make it on time for the pre-race event, but his second son Liam was born on June 23rd, ten days earlier than expected.
Prior to sprinting, the stars of the Tour de France will be in action against the clock on the 13.8km flat course on Saturday. In that perspective, Tom Dumoulin could feel how much Dutch fans expect him to win. “It would be cool to get the first yellow jersey, but I first need to remain focused on what I’m the best at”, the Giant-Alpecin time trialist stated. “I’m a bit nervous but I’m also very excited… and confident.”
Apart from Dumoulin and the nineteen other Dutch riders, there were big cheers for the four Tour hot favorites. But questioned by the media, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali added one more: “My main rivals are Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Romain Bardet”, he said, naming the French climber from AG2R-La Mondiale as well because of his performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Sicilian admitted that he also observed the battle between Contador and Quintana at the Route du Sud. “But mostly, I’ve worked specifically in order to arrive at the start of the Tour with the same shape as last year. I’ve won the Italian championship again. It’s a good sign, but we can’t compare two Tour de France. There are cobblestones this year again but it’s more difficult than last year because of the false flat terrain. However, I also should get a stronger support with Lars Boom in my team.”
“Last year I hadn’t even seen the pavés”, echoed Chris Froome who was forced to pull out earlier. “I’m hoping to get there this time.” They all looked happy and fired up by the event. “We’re getting an incredible support from the crowd here in Holland”, said Contador who is obviously impatient to start his assault to one more victorious Grand Tour.