“Thibaut Pinot is Koh-Lanta’s biggest fan”: on the Tour, Denis Brogniart talks about his passion for cycling

His sentence is irrevocable: "A year without the Tour de France is a failed year for me." Denis Brogniart was therefore present this Sunday in Anzin-Saint-Aubin (Pas-de-Calais), around thirty kilometers after the start of the 2nd stage of the Tour, between Lauwin-Planque and Boulogne-sur-Mer.

At the invitation of the Intermarché-Wanty team, the TF1 presenter presented a quiz, encouraged the riders and took a few selfies with the cycling fans present in the open-air café set up by the Belgian team. Before playing the game of comparing the Tour and its flagship show, Koh-Lanta .

What does the Tour represent for you?

DENIS BROGNIART. It's great! There aren't two events that allow you to have people smiling, despite the rain, despite the mud, like today.

Do you have any memories of the Tour de France?

I love coming to the Tour de France route because I used to come with my family, my grandfather. We would travel for miles. It was a moment of sharing. And then I covered it for 8 or 9 years for the radio. So a year without the Tour de France is a missed year for me.

A stage like this Sunday, 210 km, rain, wind, mountains... Is it harder than Koh-Lanta?

It's a form of Koh-Lanta, indeed! I find it fabulous and it further reinforces the legend of the Tour de France. Because the guys, indeed, they're going to ride more than 200 kilometers in the rain in a peloton, a nervous peloton because it's the start of the Tour. I'm always extremely impressed.

What are the similarities and differences between the Tour de France and Koh-Lanta?

The difference, on a bike, is that there are times when they're given a bag of food! In Koh-Lanta, there isn't that. In Koh-Lanta, it sometimes rains too, even more than today, but it's warmer. And then, in Koh-Lanta, you can potentially be eliminated. Here, to be eliminated, it depends only on you. That is to say, either you give up, or you leave because of an injury.

And what do they have in common?

What they have in common is courage and motivation. Because if you don't have motivation, you can't compete in the Tour de France or on Koh-Lanta, no matter how talented you are. But until now, I'd never tried to draw a parallel between the two!

Which peloton champion would be able to win Koh-Lanta?

I would say a very good friend of mine who retired last year: Thibaut Pinot. Thibaut is the biggest fan of Koh-Lanta . But I also often talk about it with Valentin Madouas. He's a strong guy, he's tough. He's courageous, I think he'd be good. But the problem with cyclists or athletes in general is that they're always wondering how I should eat to perform as well as possible. Now, if you tell them, " you have to manage without eating ," it puts them in a totally virtual world. Bixente Lizarazu, who is a good athlete, every time he tells me, " to do Koh-Lanta, you have to guarantee me a rib of beef every night ." But that's not Koh-Lanta.

No cyclist would have the immunity totem in your eyes?

No, it would be interesting to see them! They are so courageous, they are so capable of going far mentally and physically, that I think they would be strong.