On Saturday 1st of July, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty will start its sixth Tour de France in Bilbao, in the Basque Country. In order to shine, the Walloon World Team selected a solid and experienced team, with three Tour de France stage winners and several former jersey wearers.
PARCOURS
In total, the 110th edition contains eight mountain stages among which four mountain top finishes, eight stages suited for sprinters, only one 22 kilometer time trial and three days out of the French territory in the Basque Country to start with.
The first yellow jersey will be distributed after a hilly stage around Bilbao with more than 3000 meters of climbing, followed the next day by another hilly stage with the Alto de Jaizkibel 20 kilometer before the finish. The peloton then heads to France for two opportunities for sprinters, followed by a first fight in the Pyrenees towards Laruns on day five.
Ski station Cauterets-Campbasque will be the theatre of the first mountain top finish on day six, preceded by the Col d’Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet. After two new opportunities for sprinters, the peloton will return to the Puy de Dôme for the first time in 35 years, with a summit finish in the Massif Central to conclude the first week.
The rest day in Clermont-Ferrand will be followed by three days for the strong riders, before reaching the Jura for a finish on top of the Grand Colombier on July 14th. Then, two stages with over 4000 meter of climbing in the Alps await the riders, with the first one finishing in Morzine after the downhill of the Col de Joux-Plane and the second one on top of Saint-Gervais – Mont Blanc, where the peloton will start the second restday.
The only time trial opens the third week in the Haute-Savoie, containing the Côte de Domancy (2.5 km at 9.4%) as final part of the 22 kilometer stage. The next day, the seventeenth stage contains four major difficulties among whom the Col de la Loze, which is with its 2304 meters of altitude the roof of this edition, and the final climb to the Altiport de Courchevel to conclude this queen stage with more than 5000 meters of climbing.
The sprinters can then benefit of two opportunities before a final fight for the climbers in the Vosges on day twenty, a 133 kilometer stage finishing with the Col du Platzerwasel. Following the tradition, the 110th edition is concluded with a 21st stage on the Parisian circuit on the Champs-Elysées.
SELECTION
Thanks to his seventh place in the edition of 2022, Louis Meintjes achieved the first top ten of the Walloon team in the final classification. The South-African rider, who already finished twice on eight place before (2016 and 2017), will for the third year in a row receive the support of Georg Zimmermann, winner of the sixth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné to Crest-Voland earlier this month.
For his debut in the Tour de France, Biniam Girmay will lead the selection in the sprint stages. Just like in his victorious sprint in de Tour de Suisse, he can rely on the experience of Adrien Petit and former yellow jersey wearer and stage winner Mike Teunissen. Last named won in the Tour of Norway last month, his first victory since the Tour of 2019.
With Rui Costa and Lilian Calmejane, the selection contains two other stage winners. The former world champion won three stages in the Tour and will participate for the eleventh time. Calmejane, winner in 2017 on Station des Rousses and polkadot jersey wearer, will be at the start for the fifth time.
Finally, Dion Smith returns to the Tour for the first time since he entered history in 2018, by becoming the first rider of his country and of the team of Jean-François Bourlart to wear a distinctive jersey in the most prestigious race in the world. The New-Zealander offered himself the honour to wear the polkadot jersey during three days.
The sportive direction of the team is assured by Aike Visbeek, Steven De Neef, Laurenzo Lapage and Pieter Vanspeybrouck.
"I'm proud to participate in my first Tour de France. A childhood dream is coming true, it is the biggest cycling event in the world. I'm very motivated and I can't wait to start. I'm convinced that it will be an unforgettable experience with the presence of so many fans along the roads, including my compatriots. My victory in the Tour de Suisse gives me a lot of confidence in my capabilities of rivalling with the best in the sprint." "My main goal in this Tour is to realise the dream of the team, which is also mine, winning a stage. Together we did the recon of several stages. The first ones in the Basque Country will be very difficult, but I have confidence in my condition and no matter what happens, I will give the best of myself. I will take the race day by day. We have a plan and we try to put it into practice to win."
"After my seventh place in the final classification last year, I hope to do even better in this edition. To achieve this, you need good legs but also a big part of luck. My feeling is good, I have confidence in myself. This Tour is in favour of pure climbers. I hope to be spared of crashes and bad luck, then I only have to give everything I have to finish in the top ten and why not, do better than in 2022."
"My role is to support Biniam Girmay as good as possible to defend his chances on victories but also to protect our climbers, out of the wind and to guide them in the positioning battle towards the climbs. With Dion Smith, Adrien Petit and myself we form an experimented sprint train around Biniam. We have total confidence in his capabilities to win."
"It is happiness to be back in the Tour after two years of absence. I experienced magical moments in this race. For a cyclist, nothing can beat the feeling of proudness when you receive your medal of a Tour de France participation. Also, it is a pleasure to wear the colours of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. We expect a heavy start, just like in Nice 2020. The steep roads in the Basque Country will immediately skim the peloton and create a hierarchy. This might calm the nervousness a little, unless it starts raining. No matter what happens, we are ready."
"This is my eleventh Tour de France. I have many fantastic memories in this race. My three stage wins of course, but also the final victory as teammate of Tadej Pogacar and an unforgettable finish on the Champs-Elysées. The last couple of years I came here in a support role alongside my leaders. With Intermarché-Circus-Wanty everything is different. It is very special to do the Tour with a Belgian team." "I want to help Jean-François Bourlart to realise his dream of winning a first stage. You have to take the race day by day. Just like in the Tour de Suisse, during which I thought I didn't have the legs to go in the breakaway in the queen stage but eventually ended up fighting for the stage win with the best. You need to be lucky. I also want to support the team during this race, because communication is important."
“Our ambition for the Tour 2023 is to take our very first stage win and to finish in the top ten of the final classification. To achieve this, last winter we built a strong and experienced group around our leaders Biniam Girmay and Louis Meintjes. This group raced often together and this from our first races of the season on Majorca. In May, our preselection started a specific preparation with a collective altitude camp and two parallel race programmes. A larger selection benefited from this preparation, which enabled us to fill in the absences of Kobe Goossens and Rune Herregodts. We can head to Bilbao with confidence.”
“Our leader for the general classification is Louis Meintjes. With his seventh place last year, he obtained the first top ten of our history in the Tour de France. He will receive our full support to repeat this stunt in this edition. The mission of Biniam Girmay is to win a stage in the sprint. To increase our chances, we did the recon of several stages the past couple of months. We organised training sessions with the sprint train. It is also a priority for the long term development of Biniam Girmay to finish a race of three weeks for the first time in his career.”
“We’re pleased to be able to rely on the full strength of our road captain Adrien Petit again after a double injury in the first half of the season. He is an important element in our team, especially for Biniam Girmay who trusts him a lot. Last week he was reunited with Girmay and Mike Teunissen, which immediately led to a nice victory in the Tour de Suisse. In the same race, we appreciated watching the ambition of Lilian Calmejane, Rui Costa and Dion Smith, both on the attack and in service of the team.”
“Also in the Critérium du Dauphiné our riders showed that they were on track for the Tour de France with a brilliant stage win of Georg Zimmermann on Crest-Voland and seventh place of Louis Meintjes in the final classification. I have noted that three riders of our roster recently won, which shows our good dynamics and offers our group an extra motivation. I’m convinced that with these eight riders, we have cards to play for the stage win each day, no matter the parcours.”
A SPECIAL JERSEY TO HONOR GOBERT MATERIAUX
In honour of Groupe Gobert Matériaux, historical partner of team Intermarché-Circus-Wanty since more than twenty years, a new jersey will be worn by the eight riders in the 110th edition of the Tour de France. Produced by Nalini, the kit will be revealed to the fans on the occasion of the team presentation of the Tour on Thursday 29th of June in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Gobert Matériaux supports the cycling project of Jean-François Bourlart since 2002, which was named Team Stores-VC Ath back then and participated in amateur races. Exactly fifteen years after the start of the collaboration, the family group from Soignies accompanied the Walloon team in its very first participation in the Tour de France and a couple of years later in its step up to the highest level in cycling.
For its sixth participation in the most prestigious race in the world, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty worked with Belgian designer stycle.design, who designed a kit offering a special visibility to the principal sponsors thanks to a plain white background. On this area, Gobert Matériaux occupies a central place on the breast, in addition to the position where the logo is since the beginning of season 2023. The typical neon yellow color of the team is predominant on the shoulders, with the bottom part of the kit keeping its blue marina aspect.
"It is an honor for me to start the first Tour de France of my career in this jersey. We are lucky to be able to rely on the support of sponsors who are very engaged with our team. I'm talking about long term involvement, just like Gobert Matériaux shows. It are our sponsors who bring our team to life. This jersey is a nice recognition. In a sober and elegant way, it offers them the visibility they deserve. Now we want to reward their confidence on the sports side. I'm convinced that we will make this kit shine in this Tour, chasing our very first stage win."
"Construction material company Gobert Matériaux is a historical partner, who played a very important role in the evolution of our structure. They accompany us for more than twenty years already, from the amateur ranks to becoming the very first Walloon World Team. Generation after generation, the involvement of this family group in our project was reinforced. We want to pay tribute to this long collaboration with a special kit in our sixth participation in the Tour de France, the most prestigious cycling race in the world. Our ambition is to offer our first Tour de France stage victory to Gobert Matériaux and to all loyal sponsors who made our fantastic progression possible."
"Groupe Gobert was the first partner to join the project of Jean-François Bourlart when he took over the VC Ath in 2001. Since then, our connection with the team never stopped growing throughout the seasons. After fifteen years of hard work, our efforts lead to a first participation in the Tour de France, an important milestone. It was surreal. The Grand Départ of the Tour 2017 in Düsseldorf stays my best memory. For our sixth participation in the Tour, this special jersey enables us to remember the involvement of Groupe Gobert in the team and our proudness to support it. This new jersey offers us a fantastic visibility and motivates everyone to realise our ultimate dream of winning a stage."
