Voeckler predicts an aggressive 2012 Tour de France

Thomas Voeckler was a special guest at the presentation of the 2012 Tour de France route in Paris after his huge success in this year’s race. After studying the huge map, he predicted that the unorthodox route could produce a very open and aggressive race.

The Europcar team captain was invited onto the stage during the presentation with this year’s winner Cadel Evans and the world’s number one ranked rider Philippe Gilbert. Voeckler was acclaimed for the way he fought to defend the yellow jersey during this year’s Tour de France.

The 2012 Tour de France starts in Liege, in Belgium on June 30 and ends in Paris on July 22. The race tackles the Alps first and then the Pyrenees, with three mountain finishes and a total of 96km of time trailing. Several other stages are hilly and so perfectly suit an aggressive rider like Voeckler.

“It’s difficult to make a judgment so immediate after the presentation but the route is really mixed and some stages will spark some big surprises,” Voeckler predicted.

“It’s going to create a very exciting race next summer because it suits a lot of riders. I don’t know what I can do but I’ll be there, motivated and in the best possible form. It’ll be important to adopt your race tactics to suit the route. I like doing that. It’ll be up to the guys who aren’t good in time trials to go on the attack and gain time.

Voeckler held the race leader’s yellow jersey for ten days before finishing fourth overall in Paris. He was modest about being able to do so well in 2012.

“After having such a great Tour this year I’ll be more confident next year but I think I’d be presumptuous if I said I can finish on the podium but I’ll do the best I can,” he said.

“However I won’t become depressed if I don’t finish in the top ten. I think it’s more important to ride aggressively and be in the thick of the action. That’s my big goal for the 2012 Tour de France.”