Jurgen van den Broeck: “Winning the Tour de France is almost impossible”

by @pmpalermo

Jurgen Van den Broeck needs no presentation. Fourth in the last Tour de France is one of the best riders in the present and absolute lider of Lotto-Belisol Team.

Tall and thin, really good climber, this Belgium improved aganist the clock but he still knows that winning la Grande Bouclé is almost impossible because only Contador, Schleck or Froome are able to.

Van den Broeck will start season in San Luis because of the high  level in startlist and the good weather we have here in summer so he`s arriving Argentina on January 18.

Why are you starting in San Luis?what do you know about the race?

Because the level is high, there will be lot of great teams and i will be good weather. I didn`t speak with nobody so i don`t know much more about it. I only know last year the level was very high but this will be my first time so…will see…

Wich expectations do you have about this trip to South America?

I wanna do stage races before Tour de France but it`s difficult to speak about ambitions so i hope to be in a good shape.The race is a reference point for my condition.

How`s your 2013 calendar?

I`m going to race 6 stage races before the Tour. I will start in San Luis and after that i`ll go to  Rutas del Sol, Volta a Catalunya, Vuelta al País Vasco, Tour de Romandía and Dauphiné Liberé. The only one race of one day i`ll do is  belgium national champs.

We know that the Tour de France is your maximun objective, wich other do you have ?

Yes, Tour the France was my primary target the last 3 years and this season that won`t change but i `m ambitious and want to try to win stages or be in the top 3 on those races i`ll make because there important competitions.

Do you have an opinion about Katusha?

Not really. It`s an UCI decission and they didn`t give so much information so nobody knows. Is hard to say something.

What do you think about 2013 Tour de France ? level will be higher…

Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, maybe Wiggins y Nibali, Froome and a few more that i`m missing will be there. It will be much more harder, the level will be really high. It will be an impressive race and there is a lot of mountains wich is very good for me.

Can yo win the  Tour de France?will be happy is you make it better than the 2012 4ºth position?

Winning the Tour de France is almost impossible, that`s for Contador, Schleck or Froome. My objective is to reach the podium and i`ll be very happy if i can do that because it`s a life time objective!!

Pablo Martín Palermo