After taking 14th overall at his first Tour de France, talented climber Warren Barguil is hoping to take home the white jersey as best young rider from his second three week race in his homeland next month.
"For me, the goal is to try and take the white jersey to Paris," he told Cyclingnews from a team training camp in the Sierra Nevada. "Last year, I was very apprehensive. I didn't know how it would be, and everybody was telling me, 'oh it's a really high level with a lot of pressure' and now I know how it is so I'm more relaxed for the Tour," said Barguil. "The last week of the Tour last year I was f*cked totally because of my crash before the first mountains."
A stage win is something the Breton is also targeting, as he seeks to win his first race since nabbing a pair of Vuelta stages three years ago.
"The second stage can already be really good for me because it is a classics style stage and it finishes with a 3km climb. I hope that I will be in the first positions in the bunch. I think that here you can lose 15 or 30 seconds, like on Mur de Bretagne where some guys were already losing time."
He also hopes his first ever ride up Mont Ventoux, one of France’s hardest and most famous climbs, can be fruitful for him.
"I've never climbed the Mont Ventoux so we will see. It's a really beautiful climb and in the stage there is only one climb, and I need to see. I hope that I will do ok," said Barguil. "It suits me because it is really steep and it's long. I think that it is a good climb for me."
Speaking about his final build-up race before the Tour de France, the Tour de Suisse, Barguil said he hopes to do a top ten on GC and maybe even win a mountain stage.
"My goal in the Tour de Suisse is to see how my legs are. If the legs are good, and I don't lose time in the first stages, then I think that I can do top 10. Last year I lost a lot of time on the second day, and then I was not so bad after. I hope this year, I will be ready for the first stage of the mountains."
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