À quelques jours du grand départ du Tour d'Italie en Albanie, l’équipe Tudor Pro Cycling a officialisé la composition de son effectif pour sa deuxième participation à l’épreuve. Le coureur australien Michael Storer mènera les ambitions du groupe au classement général, fort de son impressionnante victoire au Tour des Alpes. Recrutés cet hiver, Julian Alaphilippe et Marc Hirschi ne seront pas là. Le Français vise le Tour de France, tandis que Marc Hirschi, initialement prévu en Italie, a renoncé après des classiques ardennaises ratées.
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SportTranscription
00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30Was that good at the start of a Grand Tour, like this year?
00:36I would say no, but I've been, yeah, close to before in the Vuelta 2021,
00:45and I also felt quite good at the Giro last year,
00:49but I think I've found a bit more fitness than the Giro last year.
00:56How do you explain that? How did you do it? Is it just confidence?
01:00No, it's also, like, it's just fitness and numbers have improved.
01:07Like, the metrics are just better coming into this year,
01:13so better preparation that you learn from what you did in previous years
01:18and how to do it better.
01:19All right, next question, Simon, please.
01:28Yeah, hi, Michael. Simon from the ABC in Australia.
01:31Thanks for taking the time for us this morning for you, obviously.
01:37I was listening to an interview on Cycling News with Larry Warbass,
01:42obviously your road captain, I guess,
01:45and he was saying that your numbers are just absolutely off the charts this year,
01:50that you're a machine, and that, you know,
01:53this is such a great opportunity to sort of maybe get a top five,
01:56maybe even a top three.
01:59He also mentioned that he's sort of made a couple of little adjustments for you
02:03in terms of getting your positioning sort of right on the bike.
02:07Like, how often, I guess,
02:09how much have you needed to, you know,
02:12constantly tinker with your positioning in order to get the most out of it,
02:15and do you really feel like you've sort of hit upon a bit of a sweet spot
02:18at the moment?
02:21Yeah, it's a lot.
02:24Sorry.
02:24Yeah, for sure, for sure, position on the bike's important,
02:28and, yeah, a lot of teams also look a lot more aerodynamic,
02:32and, yeah, Larry also, yeah, helps me, yeah,
02:37to find, like, good position on the bike,
02:39which I also practised in Tour of the Alps.
02:42Yeah, faster position as well.
02:44So it's always, like, a work in progress.
02:48But during the season, you're not going to make huge, huge changes.
02:55Yeah, with, like, equipment and things,
02:57so it's always around the sort of off-season period
03:02that teams can bring in new things.
03:06And then with the, he was saying I have, like, really good power numbers.
03:15Yes, my first year as a teammate with him,
03:17so I've always been doing good power numbers.
03:19He just didn't know me before joining the team.
03:25But, yeah, like, I found a little bit extra this year
03:28with, like, good preparation.
03:29He also sort of mentioned that, like, you've got a bit of, I guess,
03:36confidence descending as well.
03:38And I guess one of the things he said which sort of stuck to me
03:43is, like, when you're as good as you are,
03:45like, you just have to go for those general classification opportunities.
03:50Like, how much of a sort of, I guess, mental obstacle is it going from,
03:54I guess, hunting for stage wins to thinking,
03:57okay, I'm going to have to try and be consistent over three weeks now?
04:02I think for sure it's a challenge.
04:05And I just had to work on my, yeah,
04:09just work on everything, weaknesses and strengths,
04:12especially weaknesses because in a grand tour they can make you come undone.
04:18But it's also been a pretty steady progression as well.
04:23Yeah, I've been doing GCN a lot of week-long stage races and it was especially
04:31since joining this team that they've been trying to help me, yeah,
04:37improve on my, on what I need to so that I can do three weeks.
04:41And I did it last year, so I can't see why I can't do it this year.
04:44Just one more, if I may, quickly.
04:48Quite a few Aussies, I think there's 14 on the start list this year.
04:53Obviously, there's a couple of pretty strong ones as well,
04:55Jai Hindley, Jai Vine.
04:57Obviously, you're a Perth boy, West Australian.
04:59Like, the WA team would be pretty good if there's a general classification team
05:03in its own right.
05:04Like, what do you put that down to?
05:05And I guess how much comfort is there being a lot of Aussies in the peloton,
05:10particularly in such a big race, even though I know they're probably not going
05:13to be your friends over the next couple of weeks?
05:19I think it's really nice that we have a lot of Australians in the race.
05:22It just shows that the, yeah, what was, like, going on the cycling scene
05:30in Australia 10, 15 years ago was really, well, from 10, 15 years
05:36until there's some younger guys too, up until now was really good for, yeah,
05:43like, bringing us all up to a high level where we can all make it
05:48into the top of the sport.
05:51And for Perth, we also had a really good local scene back when I was coming through,
05:57and that was really essential for me to becoming professional.
06:04Thank you.
06:07Good.
06:08Next question, please.
06:14Yeah.
06:15Then we go on with James from Cycling News, please.
06:19Go ahead.
06:21Hi, Michael.
06:23Nice to meet you, first of all.
06:24But how important will this first week be for you before getting to the stages
06:28that really suit you best towards the back end of the Giro?
06:32Every stage is important in a Grand Tour when you're on a ride GC,
06:36so definitely the first week is also important.
06:40I'm not sure there'll be huge differences in the first week,
06:44but you don't want to be too far on the back foot.
06:48So it's always important.
06:53Yeah, and I think we've only seen you do one ITT this year right at the start
06:57of the season, the UE Tour, so maybe not the best tell of where that form would be.
07:00How much have you worked on that as something that may be a weakness for you
07:04in this race, but how much have you worked on your TT heading into this Giro?
07:08I've worked a lot more on the TT than last year
07:11because it's a clear weakness, I guess you could call it.
07:18Like, it's a discipline where I was losing too much time.
07:22So at the same time, it's also an opportunity
07:25because working on it, there's a lot more gains to be made.
07:30So hopefully that pays off this year.
07:32Michael, growing up in Australia, what was the race you were dreaming of as a junior, as a kid?
07:43Was it the Tour de France? Was it the Giro? Was it Paris-Roubaix?
07:46What brought you to cycling?
07:50I would say in terms of watching races, it was the Tour de France
07:56because when I was really getting into cycling, Cadel Evans won the Tour
08:01and I was also watching it.
08:05But more than just watching the races, I just enjoyed cycling and training.
08:11So that was actually the main driver, not necessarily the dream of the big races.
08:18It was more just because I enjoyed it.
08:22And then through under-19s, under-23s,
08:27then I realized I actually had the ability to become professional.
08:32Before then, I was just riding my bike for enjoyment and training.
08:42Just to follow up, but you're dreaming of the Magia Rosa now?
08:45Who doesn't dream of it?
08:51But let's be realistic here.
08:54It's extremely hard to win this race.
08:58So, yeah, I'd be happy with my race as long as I do the best I can.
09:05Whether that puts me in the top 10 or the pink jersey
09:09or I'm struggling to get through.
09:12Like, if I do the best race I can, I'm satisfied with that.
09:18But, of course, I want to bring home some results too.
09:23If that's all right.
09:24Sorry, thank you.
09:26You mentioned it's going to be a very tough race to win, obviously.
09:30You've got, I think, five former winners.
09:34Obviously, Primoz is possibly favourite.
09:37One, obviously, again, well up there.
09:40But these are sort of some of the big names.
09:42And your name has been mentioned alongside them
09:44as being a potential winner.
09:46That must be, I don't know, is it overwhelming?
09:50Is it sort of, are you able,
09:52you seem like quite a relaxed guy to be able to sort of take it on board.
09:56or how much are you sort of leaning on your team
09:59to sort of distract you from all the chat?
10:02I just take it as a compliment that people think I can do it
10:06because, yeah, it just shows,
10:10it just makes me feel that I've come a long way
10:12when, yeah, now I'm getting mentioned.
10:17And that's quite nice.
10:19Hopefully, I can also deliver on that.
10:20But if I don't, like, I'm used to getting beaten.
10:23So, it's not a big problem for me.
10:26Thank you.
10:27Thank you.