Benoît Cosnefroy on famous Tour de France beer celebration: "Do I regret? Personally, no"

Benoît Cosnefroy had a tough season on the bike and lacked real highlights results wise. Hence, perhaps his most notable moment was during the Tour de France where he celebrated with fans in a viral video, in which he and AG2R Citroën Team have slightly different opinions.

"It's a season which is not good in terms of results. A disappointing season , not up to what I hoped for, even though I wasn't out of shape, nor very far off each time. There was always those little somethings that meant that it didn't work for me," Cosnefroy shared with Ouest-France. He's decided to say with the French team, explaining. "My number one priority is that I feel good in my team and at AG2R, I feel good. And if we talk about pure sporting performance very good things are going to happen for the dynamics of our team."

Cosnefroy was third at the Brabantse Pijl and second at the Tour du Limousin, but at World Tour level he did not perform. This included the Tour de France. This spring he attempted to try himself out in the Flandrien classics as other puncheurs have done in the past, but he did not find much motivation in the cobbles.

“I don't feel able to perform there, even though my role in the team is precisely to perform," he argues, having finished 16th at the Tour of Flanders as his best result. "If we take things factually, I would say that I should not go back there because I do not have the capacity to bring results back to my team. I have to make a distinction between my desire and my duties."

Lastly, the Tour de France incident. On stage 14 in the Col de Joux-Plane, French fans went wild with Cosnefroy's presence and he took the opportunity to enjoy the party on the road. He chugged a beer and danced with fans for a few seconds. "Do I regret? Personally, no, because for those who know me, I live the moments with intensity. I wanted to live this moment fully because it is simply me," he says of the incident.

However he is aware that professionally speaking it was not the best look for the French team. "Afterwards, sponsors and the team, there may be regrets and it could be considered a professional error. It's one of the things that we can no longer necessarily do in high-level cycling today, and so I won't do it again," he concluded.