"Cycling is hard, but much less than working at the factory": The blue-collar secret behind France's latest Tour de France revelation

Jordan Jegat was one of the breakout stars of the last Tour de France, defying expectations to finish 10th overall in what arguably was his best performance ever. However, unlike the teenage prodigies currently flooding the peloton, the 26-year-old took a long road to the top.

Jegat's winter preparation has been far from ideal, marred by the flu and knee pain that have forced him to delay his return to competition. He will skip the Tour of Oman in February, hoping instead to pin a race number on at Paris-Nice. Despite these setbacks, his sights remain firmly locked on July, with the Tour de France as his main objective of the year once again.

"The 2025 Tour is a lot of memories, good and bad, because there were days of suffering too," Jegat said from his training camp in Spain in quotes gathered by Eurosport.

"On one stage, I got dropped in the descents because I had a scare and then I was afraid. It is also hard when I arrive at the foot of the Col de la Loze, I am already dead and I see that there are 25km of climbing left. But overall, it was incredible. You see the pride in the eyes of your loved ones, your family. That is also why we do this job."

Having tasted success, Jegat is not shy about his goals for the upcoming Tour de France. His primary target is a stage win, but another top 10 in the GC is also a goal he would like to fight for. "I have already done the Top 10, so it would be a bit silly to say that I am not going to do the general classification," he admitted. "Inevitably, everyone expects me to do it again, and so do I."

However, he remains realistic about the gap to the sport's aliens. "You have to be lucid. The step is huge. We have two monsters in front with Pogacar and Vingegaard... My goal is to get closer to the Top 5 in the years to come."

Jegat's perspective on the suffering of cycling is unique because he knows what a "real job" feels like. Coming from a working-class family, he worked in supermarkets and factories during his school holidays. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while others trained indoors, he went to work at a frozen food plant.

"I didn't want to stay at home. My parents told me it was better to work," he recalled. "So I worked at D'Aucy, in frozen foods. That forges a mental state. Cycling is hard but much less than working in frozen foods at the factory."

In an era where riders are turning pro at 18 and burning out by 25, Jegat feels he has a mental advantage. He lived a "normal" life before turning pro, and now he is fully dedicated to the bike with no regrets.

"I am 26 years old and I don't feel old at all," he said, contrasting himself with younger riders like 19-year-old Paul Seixas. "For me, it is a chance to have known [a normal life]... Today, I largely prefer being a cyclist than going out because I have already done that. And I am even more grateful for what I am today."

He also believes he is still far from his physical ceiling. To bridge the gap to the best, he has invested his own money in performance equipment, including an altitude tent. "I think I still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of performance and professionalism. With the team, we're trying to improve my preparation so that I can optimize everything. From year to year, I improve things and I hope that one day, I will be at 100%," he concluded.