Voeckler work­ing hard with the world cham­pi­onships in mind

Thomas Voeckler was again one of the stars of the Tour de France, win­ning two stages and the climber’s polka dot jer­sey while rid­ing his Colnago C59 Team Edition bike. Yet the like­able Frenchman is still hun­gry for suc­cess in 2012 and has made the world road race cham­pi­onships on the hilly roads of Limburg in the south of the Netherlands, as a final goal of the season.

Voeckler rode some cri­teri­ums after the Tour de France but returned to seri­ous rac­ing last week in Italy. He rode aggres­sively at the Tre Valli Varesine race, help­ing team­mate David Veilleux win the race, before fin­ish­ing ninth in the chase group. He then com­pleted the Tour du Poitou-Charentes stage race in France, fin­ish­ing a close sec­ond on the final stage.

“I was happy to be back rac­ing, I always miss it. I was also happy to race in Italy because theirs is so much pas­sion and tra­di­tion,” Voeckler explained in a recent inter­view, reveal­ing he recov­ered from the Tour de France by mix­ing time with his fam­ily and some train­ing on his home roads in the Vendee region of South West France.

“After the Tour de France I only ride five cri­teri­ums. Other rid­ers in my sit­u­a­tion would have take more advan­tage but I didn’t want to tire myself out.”

Voeckler is a favourite for the GP Ouest-France – a race he won in 2007, and will then travel to Canada for the GP Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on September 7 and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on September 9. Voeckler won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec in 2010.

These impor­tant and test­ing UCI WorldTour races will give him con­fir­ma­tion of his fit­ness as the world cham­pi­onships approach. The men’s road race is on Sunday September 23^rd.

“The two Canadian races will give me a clear indi­ca­tion of my form. I’ve got a plan in my head and hope it all comes together,” he said.

Voeckler is admired for his panache and suc­cess but also for his sin­cer­ity and hon­esty. He would love to be world cham­pion but knows that it cycling’s most cov­eted one-day race is never easy to win.

“I know that it’s prob­a­bly 99% sure that my career will end with­out me ever pulling on the rain­bow jer­sey but I also know that if I don’t give it every­thing to try, I’ll never know if I’m able to turn that 1% into suc­cess,” he said.

“Even if I was fifth in the Amstel Gold race (on the same roads as this year’s world cham­pi­onships), it doesn’t mean any­thing. There will be at least 100 rid­ers look­ing to win. But I won’t go to the world cham­pi­onships to attack a long way out like I’ve often done in other races. I’m ready to change my way of rac­ing to win that race.”