Warren Barguil has stressed that he is not yet ready to embark on a Tour de France general classification bid. The talented French climber claims that stage wins and the defence of his King of the Mountains jersey will be his main aims at the race in 2018.
Barguil won two stages in this year’s Tour de France, claimed the King of the Mountains jersey, and finished a highly creditable 10th overall in Paris.
A move from Team Sunweb to Fortuneo-Oscaro materialised over the summer, with the Frenchman joining his local Brittany team on a three-year contract. Barguil had to break his contract with Sunweb in order to facilitate the move and his end of season was soured after he was sent home from the Vuelta a España after failing to respect the team’s in-race plans.
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However, at the Tour de France presentation in Paris last week, the 25-year-old appeared enthusiastic about the 2018 route. The opening week sees stages in Brittany before two blocks in the Alps and then the Pyrenees. There is only one individual time trial and, although the team time trial on stage 3 far from suits Barguil’s new team, the Frenchman has more than enough terrain in the mountains to reverse any significant time gaps.
"It’s a really nice route. It suits me with a lot of climbing. We go through Brittany, where I live. It’s just perfect," he told Cyclingnews.
"The first week is really hard and you can lose time anywhere if you’re a GC rider. You have the pavé but in Brittany it’s all on small roads, so you can have a crash and lose the Tour at that point."
Grand Tour potential
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