“News alert: Sepp Kuss withdraws from the Tour de France (June 29-July 21)”. We are willing to bet that the news has divided the followers of the Grande Boucle into two very distinct categories. Soup of grimace for his Jumbo Visma-Lease a bike team, definitely not spared from the glitches, and the specialists. Information like any other – if it has reached their ears – that we scroll through on our phones without dwelling on it for neophytes.
It is to tickle a deeper interest of the latter – a significant part of the Tour’s followers – and to highlight the crucial roles of the leaders’ teammates, like the lieutenant of the outgoing winner Jonas Vingegaard cited above, that the prize for the best team member was added to the distinctions of the Tour de France at the initiative of the Hauts-de-Seine department in 2022, already a partner of the team classification.
“It is a partnership which is part of a more global logic of sport for all, in our daily commitment to acculturate young people to sport… High-level sport is the standard bearer, the Tour de France sticks to our DNA, to the values of self-sacrifice, and offers great visibility. We wanted to create a prize that perfectly represents the reality of our sport by promoting these small, hidden gestures that contribute to performance” explained the department’s sports director Emmanuel Blanc, a week before departure to Florence (Italy).
A pre-selection before a vote on social networks to avoid a popularity contest
“There are a lot of people who still wonder why 176 guys are showing up for the Tour when 150 know full well that they are not going to make it to the end, followed by former rider Thierry Gouvenou, race director of the Tour de France and member of the jury for this prize. Except maybe Pogacar, we’ve all been teammates… Even Vingegaard was Roglic’s teammate. It’s a role that is still unknown to the general public, for whom cycling is just a sport where you get on your bike and ride. Few people know that it is a team sport where small actions have a huge impact which can take several forms: a teammate can bring a sprinter, reduce the gap of a breakaway, bring back the cans, etc. It’s also talking to the leader after a stage to boost their morale. Lots of things that make a difference but can be difficult to grasp, to grasp. The idea is to shed light on this, to educate. »
To perfect this dual objective, a jury composed this year of ex-runners Thierry Gouvenou, Pierre Rolland, Dan Martin, two journalists (Hortense Crépin RTL, Christophe Bérard Le Parisien) and a member of ASO, will submit each weekend a pre-selection of 4 runners maximum via a “video shared on social networks, with a short sentence to motivate everyone’s choice and then it’s up to people to vote.”“It was important to avoid the pitfalls that we had seen with the prize for the most combative where everyone could propose a name and it was more of a popularity contest. Whoever had the most fans on social media won. »
“No rider has won the Tour de France or a mass sprint without the help of teammates”
Pierre Rolland, former teammate and leader
The surprised reactions of the people we surveyed around us who discovered its existence whether they were more or less aware of sports news, such as its absence in certain articles listing the prizes/bonuses distributed on the Tour say everything about the road that remains to be covered at this prize which will have its 3rd edition to emerge from the shadows and take the work of the riders with it.
“It’s a new price, it takes a little time for it to set upinvited Pierre Rolland, reached by telephone on Thursday, who, during his career, has alternated between the positions of teammate – Voeckler’s in particular in 2011 – and leader. It’s recognition, afterward we’re not going to revalue his contract the following year with that.he continued teasingly. It’s more symbolic. Cycling is an individual sport that is raced in teams. It’s a bit of a cliché but it’s true. No rider has won the Tour de France or a bunch sprint without the help of teammates. I’m thinking of a pilot fish like Mark Renshaw for Mark Cavendish when he won 5 sprints in the Tour de France, without Renshaw he wouldn’t have won so many stages in the Tour or the importance of Sepp Kuss during Vingegaard’s victories.
In the previous edition Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma-Lease a bike), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma-Lease a bike) and Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Lidl-Trek) were rewarded. If the double Danish winner Jonas Vingegaard will have to do without the American (12th in the last Tour), who has not recovered enough from Covid-19, he will be able to count on the presence of the Belgian in his promised jousts with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) for this 2024 edition.
