Along with the likes of Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) is tipped as one France's best prospects of Grand Tour success in the future. Cyclingnews sat down with the young Frenchman at his team’s Ardennes basecamp. A year after controversially missing out on Tour de France selection, Barguil is chomping at the bit to make his debut at his home race.
"I'm really excited because the Tour starts in Holland which is really important for the team and then afterwards we go through Brittany. It's my home and it's really important," Barguil told Cyclingnews. "Everybody has told me that it is completely different. Each year I look at the Tour de France on the TV and soon I will be at the start and I will be able to enjoy this atmosphere."
As a promising young French rider, there will be a lot of attention Barguil when he lines up in Utrecht on July 4. There hasn't been a home Tour winner since Bernard Hinault's last victory in 1985 and, after seeing two men grace the podium last year, the excitement will be at fever pitch in 2015. It will be a big learning curve for Barguil but the team will be keen not to put too much pressure on the shoulders of the 23-year-old, with sprinters Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb the focus of their ambitions.
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"The plan is to do it a bit like my first Vuelta, to learn about this Grand Tour, because it is totally different to the Giro or the Vuelta," Barguil explained. "We won't focus on the GC because we will focus on the sprint and I don't have five guys to help me for the GC and in the Tour if you don't have five guys with you then it is not possible.
"If after the first stages I am still up there then I can maybe try for the GC but it's not the goal, that is to learn and if after the first week I'm still here then maybe we will try."
Learning the hard way
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