Felix Gall dreams of Tour de France GC: "The objective has been clear since the start of the season"

Felix Gall was one of the biggest breakthroughs of the 2023 season. He won a mountain stage and was among the very best throughout most of the Tour de Suisse and then backed that up with an eighth spot at the Tour de France which included a victory on the queen stage. The Austrian leads Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale with certainty this year and is clear on his GC ambitions.

"The objective is clear: the general classification. Last year, the Tour de France went very well for me with my eighth place overall. You always want to improve, so the aim is to get the best possible result," Gall said in a press release. He has impressed with his incredible climbing abilities, and this year he should be a big fan of the very difficult route. There will be 60 kilometers of time-trialing, but half of which are on the final day with a lot of climbing and descending involved. The route features very hard mountain stages but also very high altitude in climbs such as the Col du Galibier and Cime de la Bonnette.

It is realistic for Gall to improve on last year's result. In the final week of the Tour in 2023 he looked to be at his very best level, and this year he will also find brutal climbing days late in the race; with a lot of flat and hilly stages in the first half where it is possible to build form. He rode to tenth at the recent Tour de Suisse and will look to grow into the race. Perhaps he can combine GC with stage hunting as was the case last year.

"It's very difficult to win a stage at the Tour de France, but we have the team to do it, and last year's emotions give me even more motivation," he argues. Sam Bennett aims for triumphs in the sprints, whilst the likes of French champion Paul Lapeira and Dorian Godon are good options for breakaways on hilly days.

Gall will have modest support, and will have to depend on the tactics of other teams. "This year, the objective has been clear since the start of the season, because I'll be the leader, and that's a different responsibility. There are more expectations, but also more support from the team. I think we'll have a very good collective and with a new challenge, the sprint finishes with Sam Bennett."