Arnaud Demare goes into his first Tour de France as a marked man after he won the French championships in impressive fashion but he refuses that his new jersey gives him extra pressure. In fact, he goes into his debut with the main goal of gaining experience.

Arnaud Demare won the internal FDJ battle for Tour de France leadership when manager Marc Madiot decided to leave Nacer Bouhanni off the roster. One week later, he justified the decision when he beat his teammate in the French championships.

Demare is now ready for this first grand tour since the 2012 Giro where he only managed to get through the first two weeks. With the French champion's jersey on his shoulders, he carries the weight of expectation from the home country but he refuses that it gives him additional pressure. In fact he is unwilling to set any specific targets for his first participation.

“I’m really looking forward to getting some experience of the Tour. I need to keep my head on my shoulders and keep my confidence levels right up as well,” he said at the pre-race press conference.

“I might be young but there’s no reason to put up barriers or set limits on what I can achieve. I’ll be looking for opportunities from the very first day, although my priority is to experience the Tour and learn as much as I can.

“I don’t think having the French champion’s jersey on my shoulders increases the pressure. In fact, it doubles the pleasure. Having the tricolore jersey gives even more significance to my Tour debut.”

Demare still hasn't decided whether the green jersey will be an objective for him.

“I think the idea will be to avoid losing any energy at less important moments, but we’ve still got to talk within the team about whether I’ve got the ability to compete for this classification,” he said.