There are only a few hours left for the 110th edition of the Tour de France to start. This Saturday, July 1, in Bilbao, the most important competition on the calendar will begin with a 182-kilometre stage in the Basque Country. Five Colombian cyclists will take part on the way to Paris.
Two of ours Rigoberto Urán and Esteban Chaves will represent EF Education EasyPost. His objective is defined: to help the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, leader of the American team, in the dispute for the yellow jersey. This was recognized by both at a press conference prior to the race.
Rigo: “This Tour is different for me”
Urán will run his tenth Tour de France, becoming the Colombian with the most participations in the Grande Boucle. In a conference, he recognized that this edition will bring great challenges for cyclists, anticipating “many differences in the general”.
“It is clear that we have a very important rider like Richard (Carapaz), who is our leader. I hope to be well in the stages in which the team may need me. We come here to contribute to the team, this Tour is a different Tour for me. I hope I can enjoy it and live up to it,” said the man from Antioquia to the media.
And he added: “Now the stages are very intense, short. The speed has increased. Experience helps, but what helps the most is having good legs, good health. There are many sacrifices that one makes to be here on the Tour”.
Finally, Rigo assured that, due to the route, the Tour is “very aggressive”. And he reiterated that his objectives are to “contribute to the team as much as possible” and to reach the last day of competition “because I couldn’t finish the Giro”.
Esteban Chaves and the dream of winning a stage in the 2023 Tour
The 33-year-old cyclist from Bogotá has already won stages in the Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta a España, and although his main mission will be to support Carapaz, is excited about his first victory in the Tour de France. In a press conference he appreciated the beginning of the race and appreciated the difficulty of it.
“I dream of that (winning a stage in the Tour). It is a goal that always exists. SIf the opportunity presents itself, you have to take it, but always prioritizing our objective, which is to be around Richard. But it would be a dream and very exciting if it came to pass,” said Chaves.
“It is a great emotion to be in the Basque Country, I have many people close to me here, I really like this part of the world. The first three stages are very hard, very demanding. It will be very nice for the spectators. It is not usual for a grand tour to start so rudely”, he added about the start of competition in Spanish territory.
About his role in EF Education, he agreed with Rigo and assured that he will work for Carapaz: “We will try to help him for the general classification. We have a good leader and all of us in the team are very professional and We are going to do our best so that he has his best performance”.