PRESS CONFERENCE: "They're all gifted athletes" - Michael Storer on Pogacar and Vingegaard; winning ambitions on Tour de France return

The 2026 Tour de France will be the third for Michael Storer, and the second in as many years. The Tudor Pro Cycling Team talked to the media ahead of the Grand Boucle this morning where he discussed his ambitions, preparation, and tackled the topic of his level against the greats such as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. CyclingUpToDate was present to capture the words of the Australian.

Storer is an interesting case in the professional peloton, as a rider who has performed in the three-week races on multiple times, but has never made that a goal at the Tour de France. The 29-year old turned pro with (the now called) Team Picnic PostNL, and moved to Grouapama - FDJ in 2022. Only in that year did he race his first Tour, as a two-time La Vuelta stage winner already.

However his Grand Tour potential was limited to chasing stages with the French team. It was only after moving to the Swiss outfit, at ProTeam level, that he first made a serious attempt at a GC result. He was 10th at the Giro d'Italia, and in 2025 he backed that up with the same result - only this time around, affected by several falls, that didn't allow him to carry the momentum from his Tour of the Alps victory.

This spring, now as an Il Lombardia podium finisher, he had a calmer build-up towards the Corsa Rosa. That has paid off and he has ridden himself into a career-best result seventh place. He has explained why he does not aim for GC at the Tour, as was the case last year; and why a rider like Jonas Vingegaard is able to do it simultaneously.

Storer will chase stage wins in this edition of the Grand Boucle but does not close the door on doing so in the future, when the Giro is not in his program. With a contract currently lasting until 2028, we could well see that take place. 12 months ago, Storer fininshed on the Top5 twice at the Tour from breakaways, and he will be a rider that the audience should expect to see in action aggressively once again this summer. He and Yannis Voisard will carry the team's ambitions through the mountainous stages, though he will be a priority.

Answer: Yeah, sucker for punishment (jokes, ed.). But it's the Tour de France, like the biggest race in the world, so I'm really excited for it as well. Like it's a, it'd be a dream to do, yeah, do well in this race, better than last year. Everyone makes me get really excited about it, so I'm happy to be here even though it's tough doing the Giro and then coming to the Tour.

Question: How do you manage the space in between a month or so to come into the biggest grand tour on the calendar?

A: It's definitely challenging to manage the month in between well. A month sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not. Yeah, you need to rest and recover, but not too much, because then you lose too much shape and hope that you're recovered enough to restart training and be ready for the race. But yeah, it's really hard balance to strike. I think we did well last year, because I did the same program, so I think that experience also helps to possibly manage it better this year.

Q: What are your goals going in? Are you looking at a potential podium finish? Stages?

A: Yeah, I'll be looking for stages. Yeah, I won't be doing the general classification at the Tour. It's too much to back up general classification in the Giro and the Tour, and then it also takes away from the other objectives to the team, because when you have to do GC here, you need everyone behind you. And yeah it just fits better not doing GC.

Q: What are you doing during the polka dot jersey?

A: Yeah, I think the polka dot jersey is difficult, because it depends how many times the peloton goes to the victory on like a mountaintop finish, which could be quite a few times, and then the points get eaten up there. And it's hard to get enough. I think you need someone from the team to run the math and sort of win the polka dot jersey. I'd like to win it, but I think it's quite challenging as well at the same time. Possibly it needs to be like the sole focus, yeah. Yeah, I was just thinking more about polka dot jerseys, like maybe it needs to be the sole focus, rather than any sacrifice going for a stage, because maybe you need to pick up every single point that's possible, and then you probably can't go for stage results.

Q: Are there particular stages that you're looking at already? (CyclingUpToDate)

A: Yeah, I think the more hilly mountainous stages are the ones which are best for me. Yeah, I won't be going in great ways on the attack on the flat stages, I just don't have the big motor on the flat like some other riders do to have a chance on those days, but yeah, I think looking for opportunities on the other days will certainly be best, where it's mountainous or hilly.

Q: Is there any particular stage that really has a special meaning to you, because of a certain climb or certain place that you'll be going through? (CyclingUpToDate)

A: Not really. Yeah, I think any stage is good for me, it doesn't have to be any particular day, and the other two are super unpredictable at the same time, so you never know which day is going to be the right day. At this point.

Q: I would also like to ask you, because you've done the Giro for the GC on three separate occasions now in the last few years, is doing the Tour GC on your radar for future years?

A: Maybe. I think this year I wouldn't, but maybe in the future I'll come back and maybe a year that I don't do the Giro beforehand, so I can have the best possible preparation for this race.

Q: Michael, how big do you feel the gap is in your age and stage of your development between you and the top GC guys that are contending for the yellow jersey?

A: Yeah, the two guys I see for the yellow jersey, Jonas and Tadej, to them the gap is quite large and doesn't seem to get any smaller. Like I take one step forward and they also seem to take one step forward as well, so it seems to be a pretty constant factor there that, yeah, that gap just remains, which is just how it is. But to the other GC contenders in the Giro, I wasn't so far off third place in the end, it wasn't a huge time gap, so looking to get the others... I'm right there in the mix, and it's just small differences that could push me into a super result on the GC or a top ten.

Q: Last year's race, obviously backing up that you'll do differently to conserve or to be able to survive or perform better this year, or is it just a matter of having another 12 months in your legs?

A: Yeah, of course the extra 12 months of training in the legs is helpful, but also the experiences from the last Tour, I think being used to the race, seeing how it plays out is really really helpful, and I think that experience is going to be crucial for this edition as well, just understanding how the tour goes, because it's a little bit different to other races.

Q: Because you mentioned that the period between the Giro and the tour, it is difficult to prepare for another GC run, but you have riders that do it, and you have Vingegaard as the main example. How do you see that preparation as a viable option to win the tour as well? (CyclingUpToDate)

A: I think it's also quite individual in that sense, so what works for me as a preparation is not necessarily going to be best for Vingegaard. Yeah, I think also maybe relatively the Giro was easier for him than it was for me, because he won it, and I don't think he needed to go as deep as everyone else. Yeah, and maybe with his physiology, he responds better to it than me, so I think there's all these nuances that can make the difference of the preparation as well, and that's why it really has to be individualized, what works best for each person.

Q: You mentioned before that you thought the race for first would be between Tadej and Jonas, and they're a step ahead. What do you think has got them further ahead than the rest of the pelotons? Do you think they're doing differently? Is it just who they are, their teams?

A: Yeah, it could be that they're doing something differently as well. I think that it's... or it could just be that they're just gifted, more gifted than already gifted riders, because I think, yeah, everyone in the pro peloton is. They're all gifted athletes, and then they're the more gifted of the gifted athletes. So yeah, I think that maybe there's a few small details that they do better. A lot of knowledge in those things as well, so that can also make a little bit of a difference, but yeah, I think a lot of the differences, they're just more, they're just even more talented than already talented riders.

Q: And are you able just to talk about the team that Tudor's taking as well? Have you had much time with the guys on the road throughout this season, and having done that last year, I presume is advantageous if you touched on that before?

A: With this specific group, I haven't seen most of them since December, but a lot of the guys who have been in the team for a while have started racing with everyone here already, and I think we've got a group that can really be active on almost every stage. I think almost every stage we should have someone who could be up there, who could go for a result, so I think that's also really exciting. We've got a nicely balanced team so we can go through on the spring stages, the hilly stages, and also the mountain days.

Q: You spoke about Pogacar and Vingegaard, of the younger generation, new ones coming up, is there anyone in particular that's impressed you, who you think will be, has somebody to watch out for on this Tour?

A: Yeah, I think I know which rider you're referring to, Paul Seixas is a guy that people are expecting to perform really really well at this Tour. Yeah, it's a bit of an unknown, I think he'll be really good at this Tour, but we'll need to find out in the next three weeks how well he can do. Maybe he wins the Tour, maybe he doesn't finish, it could be any of those options, but he's definitely a super strong rider, and yeah, I think he has a very big future ahead of him if he keeps even just staying on this level, even if he doesn't progress from here, I think he's going to win a lot of races. And then, yeah, I think maybe also Remco [Evenepoel] could be good again this Tour, like we never know. He's been staying pretty low-key, and yeah, maybe he also brings out surprises, because he's also a younger guy who goes, is really, really strong. Yeah, I think there's quite a big list of riders that could really break out in this Tour, apart from Jonas and Tadej.