“What does it change for a Frenchman to play at home?
What changes is the bit of pressure we will have this weekend, which we are starting to feel in training. The French fans are crazy actually! Some volunteers are more fans than volunteers, everywhere we feel this expectation, this desire, these looks. I remember going through this two and three years ago. It’s a little heavy when you’re an athlete, you better know who you are, where you are and what you have to put in place because otherwise you can get crushed. But I’ve made progress on that, I’ve taken a step back, I’m a little more calm. You have to be able to free yourself, to express yourself. Because when you’re in the hump over there (the hardest place on the route)there’s not much air left for us to breathe. If you are in this state, these encouragements will lift you up rather than bury you.
“You better know who you are, where you are, because otherwise you could get crushed”, Éric Perrot before the Grand-Bornand stage