After all, what could be more normal for a sprinter than learning at high speed? Paul Penhoët, 23, continues his discovery of professional cycling on the roads of the largest of his races, the Tour de France. And in two weeks, the Groupama-FDJ runner has already experienced a concentrate of ups and downs: two tops 10 in the first week, including a fifth place in the massive sprint of Châteauroux, followed by a fall at the packaging in Dunkirk (third step). And, after having passed Mount Ventoux, a goal is in sight: Valence and its arrival promised to sprinters.
“I am not at the level of the best, necessarily, do not hide it”
“It’s really a very nice step, the last pure sprint. You will really have to focus on it. The rest day has done good, I sleep well and I feel fit on the bike every morning. Not anecdotal when, a year ago, a right knee injury strengthened him in his progress. “It gives me confidence. I know that there are sprinters who struggle a little more in the bumps and who may be a little more started. In addition, it will be the first sprint of the third week and I have always heard that there could be surprises. »»
Not in the same courtyard
Well, a young Penhoët victory would already be one, of surprise. Especially since the competition is even more harsh than during the last World Tour events on which the runner slipped into the Gotha of the big thighs of the peloton. Whenever he got involved in the fight, whether on Tirreno-Adriatico or on the Criterium of the Dauphiné, he saw the current green jersey of the Tour of the Lidl-Trek Jonathan Milan blow the victory or simply ahead of it.
“We have to see that they are one leg above. I think that to win, it really has to be everything in the millimeter, it is really playing very little, he analyzes in all lucidity. I am not at the level of the best, necessarily, do not hide it. They are two or three in the world to be really above the lot. It is fighting a little behind and I am in this category. It’s up to me to put everything in place to try to scratch a big result having done everything to make everything perfect. »»
Paul Penhoët continues his apprenticeship by participating in his first Tour de France.
David le deodic / so
The sprint, French victory?
In a tour where the third place of Julian Alaphilippe (fifteenth stage in Carcassonne) remained-until the victory yesterday of Valentin Paret-Peintre-the best tricolor result, a place of honor between the Italian athletics and the Belgian double winner of stages, Tim Merlier, would remain a big blow.
What if a new French victory came from the sprint? “In Ventoux, I tried to place Guillaume (Martin-Guyonnet) at best and get up to really save my strength. But yes, the chances decrease, so necessarily, I think about it, ”smiles the interested party.
If his teammate and Olympic vice-champion Valentin Madouas believes that the sprinter can hope “something in the fields”, Paul Penhoët does not really project himself: “With my template, it will be complicated”. He prefers to take the stages “one after the other”. “I know that in the future, I will play victory. »Appointment is given in Valence.
