Having recently won the Tour du Poitour-Charentes and the GP Plouay, Sylvain Chavanel lines up at the Tour of Britain as one of the big favourites. His teammate Jerome Pineau who makes his debut in the race, is confident in his compatriot's chances.

In the aftermath of the stunning victory at the GP de Plouay that his buddy and roommate, Sylvain Chavanel accomplished, Jérôme Pineau spent his time helping his two daughters kick off their school year while digesting the past week he spent with his IAM Cycling teammates.  In the process of taking two proper training rides and preparing for his departure to the United Kingdom, the 34 year old rider from the French town of Nantes was delighted to have the chance to discover a new race. 

“After a fantastic week which included the Poitou-Charentes and Plouay, I am ready to start my very first Tour of Britain.  I spoke with Mark Cavendish a few days ago.  The only uncertainty will be the weather.  Other than that, it should be a great week with stages for sprinters but also something for the climbers and even a mini-time trial.  I will go to discover a new race, but also of course to get a result.” 

Jérôme Pineau could not hide his optimism. 

“I’m in shape.  I’ve been getting better and better since Poitou-Charentes.  In addition to that, we have a homogenous and friendly team.  We can go with the goal to win both stages and the overall classification.  Sylvain Chavanel is definitely in the form needed to do something special.  But we won’t go with a specific goal.  We’ll take it day by day.”  

Riders:

Matthias Brändle (Aut), Sylvain Chavanel (F), Heinrich Haussler (Aus), Kevyn Ista (Bel), Jérôme Pineau (F), Sébastien Reichenbach (S).