My name is Elin - A pro cycling lover's reflections

Kangert to make Tour de France debut

Category: Cycling

Estonian Tanel Kangert (Astana) will skip the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and instead help Vincenzo Nibali in the Tour de France later in the summer.

"At the moment I have the Tour in my program and I really hope to do that. It wasn't my choice, it was the choice of the team but I’ll do other races with a different approach to racing and training," he told Cyclingnews.

Kangert's season will start in Argentina next month at the Tour de San Luis.

"I'll start with the Tour de San Luis and the I'll race in Mallorca, Paris-Nice, Criterium International, Tour of the Basque Country and Tour de Romandie. It's a pretty charged and full program."

Kangert says that he would like to return to the Giro in the future. It is his favorite Grand Tour, but now it's time to do the Tour de France.

"It's a good time to test myself in the best race in the world. I'll have the same role I had in the Giro this year and I'm happy with that. I wouldn't want more responsibility in my first Tour."

"I don't think The Tour will be my favorite race. It's very hard to focus on the race and the result. There's a lot of good riders with good teams around them but obviously the goal for us is to perform well at the Tour."

"I would like to go to the Giro again, either as a leader or a co leader and get a good result."
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