Tony Gallopin is a very popular rider in the pro peloton and although he doesn't win many races, just 7 in total, when he does they are big wins: San Sebastian, a Tour stage and a Paris-Nice stage to name a few. Coming into a key part of his season, the one-day specialist has taken a bold step to do his first Tour of Britain over the Canadian races.

CyclingQuotes met Gallopin at the team's presentation for the Tour of Britain to ask him all things bike racing. First off, was his ambition for the race:

“I came to this race with a lot of ambition. For sure, I’d like to take a stage, not just personally but also with the team, through Andre Greipel. Why not also take a good GC? I’ve had a good year but no wins as of yet so I think for me it’s important to get one,” Gallopin exclusively told CyclingQuotes.

Gallopin may even contend for the GC here, telling us that he thinks the course really suits him. At the moment, he has survived the first GC test on stage two, taking fifth into Kendal on a day when the GC contenders were limited to just 12 men.

“I’ve never raced here before but I’ve heard from a few guys not to trust the profile as it’s always harder than expected. There’s a lots of stages for puncheurs but also one summit finish, I’ve been told this summit finish might even be good for me so why not, lets wait and see.”

Gallopin says his call to skip the Canadian races in favour of Britain is due to the fact that he wants a change in his calendar. Jetlag for the European Championships is another factor that influenced his call.

“I would like to change, I think I’ve done the races in Canada for the last five seasons so I’m happy to change things a little bit. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this race and there is no jetlag, which is important as a week after we finish here I have the European Championships, which is a big objective in France.”

Speaking about the race on home soil in Plumelec, he has raced the event of GP Plumelec twice (2009, 2011) and says he knows the climb to the finish line well, so is hopeful he can win the race. in Samuel Dumoulin and Alexis Vuillermoz, he has three wins and a second place in the last few GP Plumelec's, meaning France has a strong team for the course.

“I’ve spoken with the national coach and he believes in me. I was already focussed when the race was scheduled to be in Nice, but now its in Plumelec its perhaps even better for me as I know the climb to the finish well. I think it be a hard race with 17 laps and as many ascents of the final climb so I expect a really hard race and to be there in the final to take the jersey.”

From home soil to foreiegn soil, Gallopin says if he is asked to ride the Worlds as an attacking option for France, he would like to race and says if it does get windy, echelons suit him as he has learned from his Belgian Lotto-Soudal teammates how to race them.

“For the moment I’m only focussed on the European Championship but I’ve spoken with the national coach and we have 150km before reaching the circuit in Doha. Why not ride for echelons, its something I like. For the moment, the selection for the Worlds is not complete, it’s not for over a month so we have time to see if I make the team.”