Shonak wrote:
Fortune favors the brave and so another win for El Flares. What an early spring form he has, great job!

Coming off the back of a successful February, our next race is the prestigious Paris-Nice. The sponsor is desperate for a stage win at one of the biggest events in the French cycling calendar, and has made it one of our major goals for the season! Facing a high quality field, and without a recognised sprinter in the squad, expect the team to be very aggressive, particularly in the mountain stages where Damuseau, Gadret and Gaudu in particular will look to attack while Sicard will ride as our man on GC.

Pre-Race Meeting:
Paris-Nice kicked off with a short 6.1 km prologue. With some of the best time triallists in the world in the field (Cancellata, Thomas etc.), we were not targetting this stage as the potential stage win that our sponsors were looking for.

Shonak wrote:
PN will be a tough one but the team is on sa run, so who knows. Gaudu back in action

Adrien Petit finally makes his debutfor BPCE-Natixis, and with no World Tour teams in attendance one of our riders starts as one of the pre-race favourites for the first time in our short history! Everyone on the team is having their first ride of the season, so we are more interested in getting some miles into everyones legs than the result today.

sutty68 wrote:
No major time losses on stage 1 so all is still to play for

Pre-Race Meeting:
Everyone knew what our strategy for todays race was: keep it all together and set it up for a sprint finish. Petit was among the favourites for the race for a reason, and while it wasn't the biggest race on the calendar there were still valuable points up for grabs! We had our full sprint train here to support Adrien, so we were feeling confident going into the race.

The usual early breakaway went away, formed by 9 riders. Between ourselves and Cofidis we managed to keep the groups advantage hovering around the 5-6 minute mark, so they never looked like staying away.

With 30 km to go, the breakaways lead was down to a minute. Both ourselves and Cofidis had all of our riders at the front of the peleton, alongside Dan McClay and two of his Fortuneo-Vital Concept team mates. With 18 km to go we began to form our train as Erwann Corbel hit the front of the peleton. Erwann led us over the small bump (I wouldn't quite call it a hill), and it was time for the train to really unwind.

Jérémy Lecrocq took over and buried himself for 3 km, before Steve Chainel hit the front and really raised the pace! Chainel really threw down the gauntlet and the Cofidis train couldn't respond, slipping backwards back towards the pack. By the time we hit the 5 km to go banner, the Cofidis train was in tatters and we were flying towards the finish.

Down to our last 3 men, Benoit Jarrier took over. Behind him was Petit's lead out man Lloyd Mondory and Adrien Petit himself. With Cofidis' train back in the bunch the danger man was now Dan McClay, who was well placed two wheels back from Petit. Jarrier took the race to 3 km to go and then launched into his sprint.

Almost immediated McClay launched into his sprint, moving past Jarrier and taking the lead on the road. Sensing Jarrier didn't have the legs to catch McClay Mondory kicked, moving past Jarrier onto McClays wheel. McClay had kicked too early and was starting to slow, sensing this Petit finally launched and moved clear of both Mondory and McClay to take an impressive sprint victory! Mondory was even able to move past Dan McClay on the line to complete a BPCE-Natixis 1-2, with the Brits legs giving out after such a long sprint.

A very successful debut for Arien Petit, who picked up the victory. The sprint train worked perfectly, and BPCE-Natixis secured our first ever 1-2 finish! Hopefully this sets the team up well for the Spring Classics ahead!

Pre-Race Meeting:
Stage Two promised to be another quiet day for the team. Pancake flat, this looked like a perfect day for the sprinters. With 7 more days racing to run, the riders would be taking it easy for today and save themselves for stage 3 tomorrow and our first real chance to attack in the race!

Pre-Race Meeting:
Stage 3 was on paper another day for the sprinters, but was slightly less flat and slightly longer than yesterdays stage so we would be looking to get a man in the days break. At worst we would get the sponsors jersey on the TV. Romain Sicard, John Gadret and David Gaudu would be taking it easy today, with the first summit finish of the race coming up tomorrow on stage 4!

sutty68 wrote:
What a Great 1-2 at the Grand Prix de la Ville de Lilliers Souvenir Bruno Comini (Jaysus thats a long name)

Pre-Race Meeting:
After three days for the sprinters and the time triallists, stage 4 of this years Paris-Nice is the first chance for the climbers to flex their legs. After David Monier's efforts yesterday we were once again planning to be aggressive and try to get ourselves in a successful breakaway! Unfortunately Sicard and Gaudu reported having heavy legs after yesterdays stage, so would be trying to hold on to the pack rather than attack today!

sutty68 wrote:
Nice result for Gadret

Pre-Race Meeting:
After yesterdays sprint stage, we return to lumpier roads on stage 5. While not a true mountain day, the route could prove lumpy enough to dispose of some of the pure sprinters and give opportunistic attacks more of a chance at success! John Gadret reported he had good legs this morning, so we hoped he would be able to use them on the slopes later in the day.

Shonak wrote:
Team took a nice 1-2 there but things not running too smoothly on the road to Nice. The next stages will suit the team better though. Fingers crossed for a Top 10.