French Renaissance?

[BroDeal]

Are we seeing a renaissance in French cycling? They seem to be doing pretty well these days.

 

[Michele]

Yeah, been thinking the same these days.

Especially since Cofidis and Bbox downgraded from ProTour to Pro Continental they seems to get much more results than ever before.

 

[Jamsque]

In before the 'this thread belongs in the clinic' joke.

Wait.

Seriously, though, is there any real difference between this year's French wins and previous years'? I love most of the French riders for their aggression, and I like seeing them win, but they still aren't contending for the GC in major tours and the biggest classics.

 

[A.Marino]

I believe the French cyclists have a great year in 2010, mainly because of the pressure they are suffering

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Nah it's early yet. They have been doing well, but let's just call it a coincidence. Good for them though.

 

[hfer07]

Bernard Hinault on French Cycling:

“There are champions who become like civil servants when they turn pro. You have to put a knife to their throats to get any results”
“The French earn too much money and don’t make enough effort.”
“The French don’t train,” Hinault said. “Nobody taps them in the mouth to get them going. It’s necessary to block their salary and later hand them back the money if they win something.”

On doping: “The French have taken as much as the others. What is not normal is that they are not treated in the same manner as other sportsmen.”
"I'm outraged," he says. "It's easier for French riders to say that the others are doped than to go off and train."

I think it finally worked

 

[Big GMaC]

They actually won the most races by nation last year as well

But no one noticed as there was nothing that major.

They still don't have a GC threat though, although for a few years there is that MTB/CXer/TTER ?

 

[Michele]

Bernard Hinault on French Cycling:


“The French don’t train.”

About this one, I noticed that this year the whole Cofidis team turned on using SRM which means someone in the management is gonna check if they are gonna train properly or not.

 

[thehog]

Are we seeing a renaissance in French cycling? They seem to be doing pretty well these days.

I was going to post similar but give the thread a cool name like “La renaissance francaise”. I have to agree with you thou. The French have been mighty impressive thus far this year. Christophe Le Mevel in Paris-Nice until his crash was very good. Now in saying all of this “cycling at two speeds” comes into play at the Tour so they may well drop off. Lets hope they keep it up in a symbol of clean cycling.

 

[issoisso]

The biological passport works very well. The pace is much lower now. Even in spanish races.
Before, we [the french] struggled to hold on. Now we actually get to attack - Amaël Moinard

They still don't have a GC threat though, although for a few years there is that MTB/CXer/TTER ?

Peraud? He's 33.

No GC threat, no top sprinter, no classics specialist. No top riders, really.

 

[craig1985]

Bernard Hinault on French Cycling:

“There are champions who become like civil servants when they turn pro. You have to put a knife to their throats to get any results”
“The French earn too much money and don’t make enough effort.”
“The French don’t train,” Hinault said. “Nobody taps them in the mouth to get them going. It’s necessary to block their salary and later hand them back the money if they win something.”

On doping: “The French have taken as much as the others. What is not normal is that they are not treated in the same manner as other sportsmen.”
"I'm outraged," he says. "It's easier for French riders to say that the others are doped than to go off and train."

I think it finally worked

He also said in a recent interview with PCM, that when Jalabert gave his riders training programs and they included rides of over 250km, mainy of them said that they had never done those sort of distances in training. Hinault said that wasn't normal and the reason they struggle in the big races.

 

[Anonymous]

About this one, I noticed that this year the whole Cofidis team turned on using SRM which means someone in the management is gonna check if they are gonna train properly or not.

One respected cycling journo said earlier this year something like "it seems the French have started realising the value of training camps as more than a social gathering", which would make a lot of sense given their early season form. I imagine a training camp is a lot like pre-season training in football (soccer), in that if you do it right, you're set up for the season, do it wrong and you're always trying to catch up fitness.

 

[L'arriviste]

It's great to see the French back in form, just as it was marvellous to see Beppu and Arashiro on the start line at last year's Tour.

I think Hinault was right. He should know: at the end of his era, we started to see clipless pedals and TT bikes. It's progress and everyone's got to keep up.

 

[maikel]

It's good to see those frenchies getting there, I'm especially looking forward of what Vaugrenard is capable off in the Amstel, FW and LBL, in Tirreno he was terrific and capable of following the best on the steep hill finishes

 

[pmcg76]

I mentioned the French revivial in a few other threads, they might not have a major contender but they are doing a lot better than a few years ago. Who remembers when it was the Italians who were cleaning up at every early season race. I would like to think its a result of a more level playing field.

I think the reason for poor French perfromances were down to a combination of their own failings as alluded to by Hinault and many others who rode for French teams.

Doping, the French were at their poorest pre Bio-passport and as the testing has become more stringent they have improved. I will be interested to see what Moinard can do at the Tour.

One other question, have Chavanel or Pineau really improved since they moved to Quick Step, I dont think so.

 

[Michele]

The italian RAI's Cassani some years ago during a Tour mentioned that Mouncutie used to live in Paris and train in Paris cause his girlfriend was living there.
He didn't want to move to Alps or anyway hillier area for training.

I dont know if its a leggend or true, perhaps any french can help.

 

[pmcg76]

Yet another French victory at De Panne today, Sebastian Turgot(Bbox) takes the second stage. Thats 2 in a row for the French and Bbox Boguyes Telecom. Chainel & Turgot are hardly household names and they won outside France, this never really happened before. All good.

 

[poupou]

The italian RAI's Cassani some years ago during a Tour mentioned that Mouncutie used to live in Paris and train in Paris cause his girlfriend was living there.
He didn't want to move to Alps or anyway hillier area for training.

I dont know if its a leggend or true, perhaps any french can help.

By rail Paris to the Alps takes just a bit more than 2hours so it's not a problem, he can go there easily for a 2 or 3 days of training.

 

[BroDeal]

With Larpe positive for EPO and the president of French cycling complaining about the AFLD testing its riders instead of the UCI, do we now have our answer about why French riders seem to be doing better?

 

[Echoes]

Hinault is a damn hypocrit.

I can quote here what he said in Le peloton des souvenirs, his memoirs, published in 1992:

Il m’arrivait de ne pas suivre à la lettre les instructions de Cyrille Guimard. Ainsi, avant ce Tour de Lombardie que j’ai gagné, je n’avais pas du tout envie de m’entraîner. Le Guilloux passait bien me chercher, mais je trouvais toujours un bon prétexte pour ne pas l’accompagner ] J’ai entendu dire que je ne me suis jamais entraîné suffisamment, pas autant en tout cas que certains de mes prédécesseurs. Il n’est pas sûr pourtant qu’en m’entraînant davantage j’aie obtenu de meilleurs résultats.

It could happen that I didn't strictly abide by Guimard's orders. So, before that Giro di Lombardia [1979] that I won, I didn't feel like training at all. Le Guilloux could come and fetch me but I always found a good excuse not to accompany him. I used to chop wood, do DIY at home. I had probably made only one or two rides with him, no more. I still won it. [...] I've heard that I never trained enough, at least not as much as some of my predecessors. But it's not sure whether I would have had better results.

And Fignon said in his book he once had the balls to tell him straightforwardly that he hadn't train enough that winter (1982, I think)

 

[jaylew]

I really want to say yes, but I don't see it just yet.

Seems very similar to last year when Voeckler had gone on a mini-tear. Most of their good results have been in smaller French races (Fédrigo's CI result would have to be the most notable exception) and pretty much all of the best results are from riders that usually perform well. Dumoulin has had a good year so far but has taken advantage of fields mostly devoid of good sprinters.

And as people have mentioned, at this point there really is no top-level Sprinter, TTer, GC guy, or Classics rider at the moment. They need at least one.

I think there is some young French talent coming up and hopefully a renaissance is coming, but I don't think it's happened yet. Let's let the year play out a bit more.

 

[El Oso]

About this one, I noticed that this year the whole Cofidis team turned on using SRM which means someone in the management is gonna check if they are gonna train properly or not.

There was an article in Cycle Sport earlier this year (I believe the March 2010 edition) where they discussed how BBox was just now begining to use powermeters and the importance of core strength.

 

[luckyboy]

With Larpe positive for EPO and the president of French cycling complaining about the AFLD testing its riders instead of the UCI, do we now have our answer about why French riders seem to be doing better?

Let's hope not. It's not as if any performances have jumped, or France has suddenly got a big name contender.

I don't know what to think after Larpe's test though French team too, and it's a 'proper' PED - reference to norfenfluramine.

Anyway, let's see what happens this season..

 

[craig1985]

Yoann Offredo (you might remember him as the FDJ rider who went on the attack at Milan San Remo and was caught on the Poggio) is tipping himself to win San Remo, Flanders, and Paris Roubaix - in that order, one day.

Can't say he isn't confident.

 

[issoisso]

Yoann Offredo (you might remember him as the FDJ rider who went on the attack at Milan San Remo and was caught on the Poggio) is tipping himself to win San Remo, Flanders, and Paris Roubaix - in that order, one day.

Can't say he isn't confident.

Madiot's been saying pretty much the same about him for a while now.

I doubt he can live up to it.