Larry Warbasse: "I’d really like to ride the Tour de France this year"

The 31-year old American rider has his eye on the Tour de France this year after having riden both Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España four times throughout his career.

In a recent interview with VeloNews, AG2R Citroën rider Larry Warbasse admited that he has a big goal for this season and that is to make his debut at the Tour de France: “I’ve ridden the Giro four times, the Vuelta twice, so I’d really like to ride the Tour de France this year. I’ll definitely have to show that I’m ready because, obviously, it’s not easy to be selected,”

One thing is certain it's that it will be a tight gap through which Warbasse will struggle to squeeze in, AG2R have outlined six riders to be at the Tour de France already in Ben O'Connor, Benoît Cosnefroy, Greg van Avermaet, Oliver Naesen, Bob Jungels and Aurélien Paret-Peintre if things go according to plan. With only two more spots to fill in it will be complicated, but he has a plan.

“I just need to be in the best shape that I can in some of the early races, try to get a result for myself somewhere, and then hopefully I’ll be in the right place to be considered for selection,” Warbasse said.

"After [Bessèges, where he was racing at the time of the interview], I’m doing Haut Var, which is right close to home so that’s cool, then it’s Paris-Nice, Catalonia, the Ardennes Classics, Romandie. So it’s quite a solid schedule."

Warbasse started the season in GP La Marseillaise and then went on to complete the Etoile de Bessèges in 20th place, in the coming months he will have a packed schedule and will be eyeing some strong results.