Tour chances of Kooij, role distribution and ambitions: sprint leader Mark Renshaw is delighted after introductions at Decathlon

Olav Kooij was brought to Decathlon CMA CGM and with him came an entire sprint train. As leader of that sprint team, Mark Renshaw was acquired from XDS Astana. IDL Pro Cycling spoke with the Australian former rider about his first impressions of Decathlon and the plans of Kooij and co.

Whereas a lot of riders are assailed by the media present - Paul Seixas in particular - after the team presentation in Lille last December, the fuss around Renshaw is a little less. The Australian first gives an interview in excellent French, after which this site is only too happy to strike up a conversation with him.

"Obviously, you know, I don't officially start here until the 1st of January, coming from XDS Astana. It's been a big learning curve. As a rider it's easier, because often you change teams in your career. As a staff member, you don't see too many staff changing teams.

When you really look at it, this year there's been quite a lot, but generally not much movement in the staff. So, it's about learning new procedures, new protocols. I think my role here has been well documented, that I'll be mostly doing the program with Olav Kooij, and the goal is to win in the Tour de France and to look for the green jersey."

"Look, the main point was the possibility to work with pure, high-class, world-renowned sprinters. And that is with Tobias Lund Andresen, that is with Olav Kooij, Cees Bol, we have Robbe Ghys. We have really a lot of guys who are, I think, in the top tier of sprinting. And so, the opportunity to work with these guys, and to not look for top 5 or top 10, but to look for the victory. It's obviously more pressure, but I love... I always say, there's a saying: pressure makes diamonds, and I love this."

"Yeah, look, they are really good bike riders. Now we have to bring them together, we have to create a culture, confidence, and give each rider experience riding together, so we can abstract, withdraw the maximum potential from each rider."

"All the riders in the team will have big opportunities next year. They'll all have an opportunity to win. With Olav, the plan is clear. We know his start of the season, where he'll start. We know that he'll eventually end up in the Tour de France in July, with the objective of winning stages. How we get there, it's going to be a learning process for the first part of the year, and about improving the communication and the confidence with each other."

"Look, realistically there might be six, there might be seven chances. You know, numbers game says probably five pure sprints in the tour. Pure sprints meaning that we don't have some kind of upset during the stage. So I think out of five opportunities, it's five good chances follow."

"Well, mathematically, you know, it depends how the Tour plays out. Especially when you've got riders like Tadej (Pogacar, red.). They have changed a little bit the regulations and the points layout and where the sprints are. Looking at the sprint locations for the bonus sprint, one sprint a day, it should skew it a little bit more in the favour of a pure sprinter. But the consistency is the key."