|
[EPIC] #EPICfdj 2014
|
| SSJ2Luigi |
Posted on 22-02-2015 22:18
|
World Champion
Posts: 11971
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
 Tour of Qatar
Even though technically my first race is Tour Down Under but those results aren’t up yet due to some technical difficulties in Australia and I won’t spoil those result for now. The results of Tour of Qatar are up though so I can report on those. I went to the race as general support for the sprinters and the GC riders so that they don’t lose time. I must say I do like starting a race with the number 13 on my back. My protective duties of the stage race made it so that I couldn’t be in any breakaways this stage race.
Stage 1 was an almost prefect for me. The sprint train made a perfect leadout for Arnaud so that he could win the stage, nobody else from the team lost time in the echelons today and I was in the season group while my brother was also beaten today.
Stage 2 was a little bit worse. A breakaway took the stage, while I did my job good today again after again nobody else form the team lost time today. Sadly my brother didn’t lose time and actually contested the sprint. He finished in 21th place, credit where credit is due though. An amazing result for him.
Stage 3 was the time trial and I won’t waste many words on it. Finished 126th today.
Stage 4 was a weird one. We lost the GC lead so I and the rest of the team didn’t need to work really hard today but unfortunately Team Sky didn’t bother to do it either. A breakaway won while most of the team managed to stay in the peloton. I did have a nice time riding to the line after I was dropped after a lot of bottle carrying. I was in a group of 4 with Sutton, Sütterlin and Pate, all from Team Sky. Easy ride home that day.
Stage 5 was a similar story to stage 2. Only different is that my brother wasn’t able to hang on to the front group but actually a group behind myself. Unlike the day before I was alone after being dropped. No sky train today.
We kinda dominated the final stage as we’ve managed to split the peloton twice and we all managed to stay be in the first group. However our only remark on the stage is that Demare couldn’t make it on the podium.
Overall it was a good race for me: I’ve managed to score quite a lot of points for the Feunard Games (4-2 currently) and a lot of good placing finishes (beating my highest finish last season three times) but more importantly FDJ.fr managed to score a huge chunk of points due to Demare and regulair top 10 finishes from the other guys. I don’t think there was a stage where we had less than 2 riders in the top 10.
I'll leave you with some stats about my race and the current standings in the Feunard Games and will see you guys next time, with some exiting stuff from Down Under 
I didn't spoil anything now did I? 
Aquali Feunard's Tour of Qatar
| Stage | Stage Winner | Result | Feunard Games | | Stage 1 | Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | 76th | Win | | Stage 2 | Hayden Roulston (AND) | 108th | Loss | | Stage 3 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY) | 126th | Loss | | Stage 4 | Massimo Graziato (BAR) | 37th | Win | | Stage 5 | Mark Cavendish (SKY) | 57th | Win | | Stage 6 | Mark Cavendish (SKY) | 39th | Win | | GC | Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY) | 41th | Win |
Feunard Games standings (after Qatar)
| 2014 season | Best of Three | First | Last | Points | | Aquali (FDJ) | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | | Voltali (Champion System) | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | | Pyroli (CCC-Polsat) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 23-02-2015 13:32
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Faye Marcus
The team has just concluded it's activities in the Tour of Qatar. What should be a big early season target for any team with a serious sprinter we stacked up probably our ideal sprint-train team. Arnaud Demare began his season, alongside Mathieu Ladagnous, Johan Le Bon, Jeremy Roy and Geoffrey Soupe. They were assisted by Erik Bousche, Aquali Feunard and Anthony Roux.
Demare kicked into gear winning Stage 1. Whilst he, or the team, wouldn't taste the top-step again it was a brilliant race. Demare matched up to Cavendish most days and showed why he's considered one of the biggest talents around. But it about more than Arnaud. The whole team was outstanding.
We always had a couple of guys in the front groups to support Arnaud, often placing one or two more into the Top10. We placed three in the Top10 GC overall to cap things off. It was a powerful performance, easily matching the WT teams strengths. The other "sprinters team" Bardini were blown away. FDJ.fr made a big statement that we are here to race hard.
|
| |
|
|
| Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-02-2015 13:36
|
World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
|
Fine, I may have underestimated you in my preview
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
|
| |
|
|
| The Hobbit |
Posted on 23-02-2015 16:44
|
Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2730
Joined: 18-08-2013
PCM$: 200.00
|
Blown away is a very good way to descirbe our performances unfortunately, it certainly would have been nice to have contested more than two of the stages, although credit obviously has to go to FDJ for what was a fantastic performance. It sounds as if a nice rivalry could appear between Bardiani () and FDJ over the season, although I would definitely favour FDJ in that, particularly if you can finish the season the way you have started. |
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 27-02-2015 16:44
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Faye Marcus
Time for a nice round-up of the tons of EPIC action. We'll begin with the Tour Down Under. A race i love for obvious reasons we didn't send the best of squads to battle with the World Tour teams, aiming to try and get a Top10 GC and test out Plusvites legs in a safe, low pressure environment.
Plusvite did not have a good race. He never really go into a position to sprint. Perhaps we could have given him better support, but Plusvite will spend a lot of the year working as an alternate option so he's gonna have to get used to it sooner rather than later.
Vichot however had an amazing race. He followed the key attack over Corckscrew to finish high up in the stage placings but set himself up inside the GC Top10. The confidence boost was huge and he was on the attack up Willunga, matching some of the best punchers in the World Tour. Ultimately a stage win was too much but he climbed to 3rd on the GC. A giant scoop for a PCT team. He made the TDU a reall success of a race.
Following on from Qatar we sent a team to Oman. The breakaway just about held on at the end of Stage 1, but Arnaud Demare continued his impressive form to win the peloton sprint ahead of Adrien Hanzen. The team did some great work in the same way they did in Qatar. Things look promising yet again in the desert.
Finally the classics season began with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. A good chance to test out our cobbles team and how it matches to the World Tour. The conclusion is a very nice one! We saw Offredo and Demare placing a double attack mid-race. Whilst ultmately unsuccessful it's great initiative. Demare recovered strongly to gallop to 2nd place behind Stybar, if he hadn't gone away earlier a win must surely have been on the cards. To top it off we also had Ladagnous, Offredo and Gallopin inside the front group. Yet another strong team display.
The EPICUCI released a provisional rankings table today as well. Both Demare and Vichot are inside the Top10 Individual rankings currently, both already looking set to smash their total hauls from last season. Meanwhile in the team rankings FDJ has blasted its way to 2nd place! Only the monsters of Sky are ahead, with everyone else unable to equal our consistency.
All in all the opening 3 and a bit races have been incredible for us. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and lay some strong foundations for the promotion chase. Much better to have the room in hand than be chasing from behind. Allez allez FDJ!
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 13-03-2015 19:34
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Faye Marcus
The Tour of Oman has come to a conclusion, finishing our time in the Middle East this season. Arnaud Demare was unable to secure a stage win but did clock up some more impressive sprint results including stage podiums. His form is looking excellent heading towards a big race like Milan-San Remo.
The team also had to recover from losing Kenny Elissonde early on. Our climbing and GC leader abandoned early on but Jeremy Roy stepped up big time. He penetrated the Stage 4 breakaway and hung on going up Green Mountain to take 7th place in the GC. Easily surviving the hilly Stage 5 he clinched 7th overall and netted out first Goal of the season, chapeau!
Ladagnous and Offredo were in action with the cobbles team in the Omloop. It was an aggresive race but both riders stayed the right side of any splits. Mathieu sprinted to 6th place in the final group sprint to bag yet another solid Top10 result for the team. It shows good signs going forwards and we should be looking for more Top10's in the WT Flanders Classics in a months time.
We have a slight pause in our race schedule now as there are other races to finish up in the EPIC calendar. The team will be thankful for a slight break and we look towards Paris-Nice with big and hungry eyes. Hopefully Le Son will be able to grab another interview before then if they are not too busy on their main project.
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 20-04-2015 19:09
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Faye Marcus
We can now confirm out Part 2 races as the following:
 | WT | Ronde van Vlaanderen | Ladagnous/Offredo | | | CT | Schelderprijs | Demare/Bouhanni/Lumiere | | | CT | Brabanste Pijl | Ladagnous/Offredo | |  | WT | Paris-Roubaix | Ladagnous/Offredo | Yes | | CT | 5 Jours de Dunkerque | Ladagnous/Offredo/Demare | Yes |  | CT | Bayern Rundfahrt | Bouhanni/Lumiere/Le Bon | |  | CT | Tour de Luxembourg | Vichot | | | WT | Criterium du Dauphine | Elissonde/Bouhanni | Yes |  | CT | Aargau | Vichot | |
We'll top off our run in the cobbled classics and have two more adventures in Belgium. Back to France but still on cobbles. Bayern for the sprint, Luxembourg for a bit of whatever we can manage and Aargau as a CT-only event. Dauphine mixed in as a pre-Tour run for Elissonde who hasn't seen much action this season.
It's a light schedule. This compensates for a kind of heavy Part 1 but saves us plenty of opportunities for Part 3 which includes the 21 day Tour de France. We will also be confirming our EPIC Riders' schedules in the next week or so as this season part comes to an end.
We'll also come back with a review of the opening months once Part 1 is fully completed as we still wait on the races of Dwards Door Vlaanderen and Volta Limburg where we harbour Top10 or Podium ambitions. Though by the looks of things we've set ourselves up nicely to continue pushing for promotion, sitting inside the Top10 at the last rankings!
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 21-04-2015 21:20
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
#LeSon
Interview number 3 sees Le Son catch-up with Matthieu Ladagnous and Yoann Offredo in the midst of their spring campaigns...
Le Son: Welcome Matthie and Yoann, thanks for finding some time in this busy period. Let's jump right in, how are the classics going?
Yoann Offredo: Certainly helps Arnaud has been on scintilating form alongside us. He really kicked things off strong in KBK. Both of made the front group with Arnaud and Tony [Gallopin] as well, was the best start.
Matthieu Ladagnous: Absolutely! We took that to the Omloop but no-one quite expected a big sprint. Even so i was very happy with 6th place against some quality finishers, with some good help from Yoann.
LS: Things really did go well at the Opening Weekend. Koerse though was a totally different race?
YO: You're telling me! A big break like that is always dangerous and there just wasn't the teams around to chase it. Luckily we had Geoffrey down the road covering and he picked up 2nd which was more than we thought he'd manage.
ML: Yeah Koerse was a crazy race. Yoann was again strong making the first elite group in 12th. I had some cramps and could just stay in the main peloton pack. But in many ways that's been FDJ this season, when one of us struggles another rider steps into the gap.
LS: And that brings us up to the big WT Classics. How have they been for you two thus far?
ML: For Wevelgem we wanted to be in for Demare for a sprint. Instead we got a super fast and hard race. Even so Arnaud was again in great form for 11th all things considered. Myself and Yoann were matching some of the big guys but after we missed the splits it was energy saving.
YO: I felt great for E3 so we went with a mid-race attack. Risky but we'd had some practice in KBK and it worked and it worked again! 4th place in a WT race, cannot ask for more! Results like that we need for a promotion charge.
LS: So yes looking ahead. FDJ are certainly in prime position for push for promotion, can you help that in the Ronde and Roubaix monuments?
YO: Yes i think we can. We've got the strength between us to get a good result in one of the two. Bit of luck and i reckon we can Top10 both races and that will give us a huge boost over other CT teams, most of which don't have cobbles points at all.
ML: Ideally we can take some pressure off Kenny and the sprinters with some good scoring. But we've also got Dunkirk in the next season part to target and then the Eneco tour in Part 3, so our leadership roles arn't done with yet.
LS: You guys are having a great time on the road and seem really positive about things. Best of luck for the upcoming races and thanks again for your time!
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 06-05-2015 11:07
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Faye Marcus
Thus Part 1 comes to an end. We finished off with an under-par DDV without a Top10 and just 7th in Limburg when we should have been going for the Podium. But still added points from both races as the team continues to work strongly together. The end of part rankings came out with FDJ.fr 9th!
That's 9th out of everything, so ahead of eight World Tour squads as well as every other PCT team. In terms of Points things are kind of close but we have the advantage. It's a great base as we push for promotion, especially as several WT teams seem in difficulties results wise. Part 2 we will probably lose ground as we save up for the long Part 3.
Goals wise we've done badly, only meeting our Top10 Easy Oman target. Looking at Part 2 we'll have Goals in the three french events which we should be able to meet and then whatever the UCI hands out. We are looking forwards to seeing how our riders have progressed, especially Gougeard and Jauregui! FDJ is haveing a time of things in Part 1 and let's hope that can continue into Part 2.
|
| |
|
|
| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:19
|
Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
|
|
| IP: None |
|
|
| Ollfardh |
Posted on 19-05-2015 13:54
|
World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
|
Your races for part 2:
RVV
Scheldeprijs
Roubaix
Brabantse
Dunkerque
Bayern
Luxembourg
Dauphiné
Kanton
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 24-05-2015 09:53
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Part 2 Goals-
Easy: Top10 4 Jours Dunkerque GC
Between Demare, Ladagnous, Offredo and even Le Bon we've got the quality to place ourselves in the Top10. Anything less would make this a quite bad race for the team...
Medium: Stage Win Criterium Dauphine
WT events attract WT riders. We can't hope for much in a GC with just Elissonde. But there's decent chances of either a sprint stage win or a breakaway win to keep the sponsors happy and points flowing.
Hard: Top10 Paris-Roubaix
The WT classics are unpredictable and our fortunes have varied. Ladagnous and Offredo keep performing well. Lets hope they can make the right split on the day and sneak into the Top10. Regardless the top CB talent will all attend and they are far from the 10 best CB riders.
|
| |
|
|
| Ollfardh |
Posted on 26-05-2015 13:40
|
World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
|
TheManxMissile wrote:
Part 2 Goals-
Easy: Top10 4 Jours Dunkerque GC
Between Demare, Ladagnous, Offredo and even Le Bon we've got the quality to place ourselves in the Top10. Anything less would make this a quite bad race for the team...
Medium: Stage Win Criterium Dauphine
WT events attract WT riders. We can't hope for much in a GC with just Elissonde. But there's decent chances of either a sprint stage win or a breakaway win to keep the sponsors happy and points flowing.
Hard: Top10 Paris-Roubaix
The WT classics are unpredictable and our fortunes have varied. Ladagnous and Offredo keep performing well. Lets hope they can make the right split on the day and sneak into the Top10. Regardless the top CB talent will all attend and they are far from the 10 best CB riders.
Countered goals:
Easy goal: Top 10 Kanton
Medium goal: Top 5 GC Bayern
Hard goal: Top 5 Ronde
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
|
| |
|
|
| SSJ2Luigi |
Posted on 07-08-2015 22:05
|
World Champion
Posts: 11971
Joined: 21-07-2012
PCM$: 400.00
|
I went to Tour Down Under as support for De la Lumiere in the sprints and more importantly for Vichot for the GC. However on stage 1 I saw a change to take an intermediate sprint which in turn could give me a placing in the top 10 of the general classification after the stage due to the bonification seconds. I finished second and then got back in the peloton to help Vichot. I finishes the stage while the team didn’t get in much trouble.
Bol beating me at the intermediate sprint, ultimately giving me 7th overall after the stage
The following stages I mostly spend my time making sure my leaders where hydrated and well position before the final. Vichot was able to take 3rd overall which was good for the team as they’ve relegated to PCT last year.
Feunard Games
While the team did well for the overall, I didn’t do too well for the Feunard Games. While I was working for my teammates, my brother had a free role and could go for the KOM jersey which he won. He beat me in all the stages but 1 (stage 5). At least I can take pride that my team is doing better in total.
results
| Race | Best of Three | | First | | Last | | Tour Down Under - Stage 1 | | | Pyroli | 129th | Aquali | 151th | | Tour Down Under - Stage 2 | | | Pyroli | 138th | Aquali | 155th | | Tour Down Under - Stage 3 | | | Pyroli | 146th | Aquali | 165th | | Tour Down Under - Stage 4 | | | Pyroli | 19th | Aquali | 38th | | Tour Down Under - Stage 5 | | | Aquali | 122th | Pyroli | 127th | | Tour Down Under - Stage 6 | | | Pyroli | 59th | Aquali | 80th | | Tour Down Under - GC | | | Pyroli | 100th | Aquali | 127th |
2014 rankings
| 2014 season | Best of Three | First | Last | Points | | Pyroli (CCC-Polsat) | 0 | 6 | 1 | 6 | | Aquali (FDJ) | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | | Voltali (Champion System) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
overall
| All Season | Best of Three | First | Last | Points | | Voltali (Champion System) | 0 | 13 | 10 | 13 | | Aquali (FDJ) | 0 | 10 | 19 | 10 | | Pyroli (CCC-Polsat) | 1 | 7 | 1 | 10 |
~ Aquali Feunard (FDJ) |
| |
|
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
