Pierre Latour is ready for this Tour de France 2022 which starts this Friday from Copenhagen, Denmark. The runner from Romans-sur-Isère has fully recovered from his fractured left radius which he suffered at the end of May after a fall during the Mercan’ Tour Classic. “He did 170 kilometers in a breakaway last weekend in a race and he felt good. Normally it should be progressing“, remarks his father, Claude Latour. The climber attacks for the fifth time the Grande Boucle and see you soon 29 years old, “he arrives at an age where he has bottle. In addition, he is trusted a lot in his team, Total Energies, for his experience.“, adds the former runner.
“They like cycling-champagne!”
Total Energies notably includes the illustrious Slovak sprinter Peter Sagan in its ranks. “But in this team, they are not at the disposal of a leader. Pierre is a free electron and they love cycling-champagne! So if Pierre wants to attack, he will!“, assures his father. As a good climber, Pierre Latour has already targeted the mountain stages as those where he can try to escape. “It starts on the second week with the Planche des Belles Filles and he will try to score points“, notes Claude Latour.
He is a little apprehensive about the stage on the cobblestones in Roubaix – Claude Latour
The challenge for him is to free himself psychologically from this injury, to forget it. The only positive is that the fracture is “non-displaced” which means that it is less severe. In this case, the bones remain aligned and the recovery is fasterwhich explains why the Roman rider can participate in the Tour de France 2022. Even if he is cured, “he is a little apprehensive about the stage on the cobblestones in Roubaix because of the vibrations“, indicates Claude Latour. He adds: “But they have very equipped bikes with a shock on the front stem. They press a button and there it’s like a shock absorber that absorbs shocks, it’s great!“Something to reassure the Drôme runner during this month of competition.