French coach Thomas Voeckler after lackluster performance in World Championships: "If we had to do it again, we'd ride the same way"

After Julian Alaphilippe's double, in 2020 and 2021, then Christophe Laporte's silver medal last year, this is the first "failure" for French team in last four years at a World Championship. You'd have to go all the way down the result sheets to 15th place to trace their first rider, Valentin Madouas.

At the microphone of DirectVelo, the coach of the French team, Thomas Voeckler, debriefed these Worlds. "It was a crazy race, but we expected it," he explains. "We knew the guys were going to finish as best they could, apart from the first. Anyway, you just have to see who's in front. There's no coincidence."

"In the race, we only had the puncture of Christophe Laporte, but he was the protected rider. In addition, he punctured when Mathieu van der Poel made the first selection. Anyway, on such a circuit, it is almost impossible to come back, with mechanicals. It was really a good day, but that's how it is."

"We're disappointed, if we had to do it again, we'd ride the same way. You have to accept having days when it doesn't work and today it didn't work," Voeckler concludes.