The french fight back
2014 Cyclingnews’ Daniel Benson says France must seize momentum of this breakthrough Tour
while nibali ran away with this year’s Tour, and one Belgian journalist likened it to a café without any caffeine, there’s no doubt that the French enjoyed their best race in years. Two riders on the podium, stage wins and heroic rides from JeanChristophe Péraud, Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet with all three of them unique enough to appeal to myriad cycling fans.
Now that an understandable level of patriotic giddiness has settled, the three main players within the church of French cycling – ASO, the teams and the media – must determine how they build on the opportunity.
That process probably starts with the teams. Cedric Vasseur talked to Cyclingnews and expressed that the French squads of AG2R and FDJ needed to internationalise their approach to rider recruitment. However, along with improving their rosters they must protect and nurture the talent they have fostered thus far. Bardet and Pinot are still young and we saw what happened to Pinot last year when the pressure was on. Perhaps the next aim for either might be to target a Vuelta or Giro win as a stepping stone.
In turn ASO must engage the riders at their disposal with routes that appeal to their characteristics. This year’s parcours suited all three French riders to varying degrees – Nibali was just better – but organisers will no doubt be looking to return to places like La Planche des Belles Filles in the near future.
Alex Roos, a reporter at L’Equipe told Cyclingnews that the French publication ran 15 front pages in a row with French riders (three shared with Nibali) from 15-29 July. The publication, understandably, debated internally whether Contador crashing out or Pinot’s second place was the story of the day on stage 10, such was the appetite for home success.
“We gave more focus to the French riders,” he said. “Without those riders we would have had two weeks of Nibali smashing the race. The Tour may have been a bit boring for the Spanish and Belgians, but for us Pinot, Bardet and Peraud shaped the race.
“More people were talking about the race and the French riders. The general French public have just discovered these three riders, especially Bardet and Peraud. Considering there were still French media misspelling Pinot’s first name suggests they were still discovering him too.”
Even the French president got in on the act, calling Pinot and Peraud personally.