INTERVIEW | Valentin Paret-Peintre on Evenepoel support and Tour de France debut - "In the last week maybe I can be with the last 15, 10 guys"

Remco Evenepoel will not have the same support as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in the mountains of the Tour de France, but that's a luxury that no other team can afford. The Olympic Champion may have a brilliant weapon in Valentin Paret-Peintre as a right-hand man in the Pyrenees and Alps, and the Frenchman has talked to CyclingUpToDate about his role.

Despite being an incredibly talented climber, the 24-year old is actually making his Tour de France debut this Saturday in Lille. "For the moment [I feel] nothing special I have to say but we will see tomorrow at the team presentation and I feel the real atmosphere of the Tour. For the moment I think my head is like another Grand Tour. Like I said tomorrow I'll see," he said during today's media gathering in Belgium.

The team has brought in Ilan van Wilder, Mattia Cattaneo and Paret-Peintre to support Evenepoel in the mountains. His role is "to be here with Remco as much as possible in the mountains, also to be sometimes in the breakaway to be with him in the final as we did in the last stage of the Dauphiné. It will be very important for me to be there in a mountain stage".

The Frenchman was initially outlined to be at the Giro d'Italia this year, but an injury during the spring derailed his plans, and after he couldn't prepare properly for it, the decision was made to have him prepare for the Tour instead. As Mikel Landa abandoned the Corsa Rosa on it's first day, Paret-Peintre's role at the Giro would've been nullified very quickly.

He has felt like his level in recent weeks has improved quite a lot and he can reach the form he initially hoped for at the Giro: "Yes I hope, it's hard to say with my preparation it was completely different. Two altitude camps, Dauphiné I never did it before but I felt very good in the Dauphiné, not my best shape but pretty good... I know my form can improve in the first days of the Tour so I hope in the second part of the Tour I will be at my best form".

Despite being his first presence in the race, there is pressure, taking into consideration Evenepoel's ambitions and the firepower of rival teams. In 2024, Paret-Peintre has shown an incredible climbing level late into the Grand Tours in support of Ben O'Connor.

"Yes of course but I don't have the level of Almeida or Jorgenson yet... I think I will be dropped before them normally, but I will give my best to be as long as possible with Remco. You never know, in the last week maybe I can be with the last 15, 10 guys," he concluded.