ALL ABOUT THE TEAM IN QATAR: STAGE 2
9 FEBRUARY 2015
AL RUFAA, QATAR— The 2nd Stage of the Tour of Qatar provided a short break from the sprinting that is always associated with the Middle Eastern Stage Race, instead the day was all about precision, timing, and the team, yes the incredibly difficult discipline, the Team Time Trial. This discipline has always been a thorn in the side of the Cofidis team in the past, however, lots of hard-work in the offseason paid off with a very solid 4th place finish in the TTT, 20 seconds behind the winning team, Team Sky.
The team came into today trying to protect the high place on GC of Nacer Bouhanni and Rudy Molard. Unfortunately for the team, Molard was dropped on the run into the finish and did not receive the same time as his first 5 teammates, meaning that Bouhanni is the team’s only GC hope from here on out.
Despite the high finish, the team did suffer a number of different issues throughout the race. After 5 kilometers Loic Chetout lost the wheel of the rider in front of him, causing Rudy Molard to slip back with him and the two were never able to catch back on, meaning that the team had 11 kilometers to cover with just 6 riders. Inside the final kilometer, the team’s 5th rider, Romain Zingle lost the back wheel of Bouhanni and fell back, the front 4 did not notice it and they hit the line around 11 seconds behind Sky but because the time is taken on the 5th rider, only when Zingle hit the line did the clock stop, 9 seconds later.
“I was pleased with the team’s effort,” Director Sportif Didier Rous commented, “the guys all worked hard in the offseason to become a formidible TTT team and it showed today.” “We had a number of hiccups but we have plenty of time and plenty of TTT’s ahead before we get to the ones that really matter, in the Dauphine and the Tour.” “Now we will focus back on the sprints, and try to get Nacer a stage win and a high overall spot in GC.”
Team Sky’s Danny Pate took the overall race lead, he and 4 sky teammates lead Mark Cavendish (Etixx) by 13 seconds and Bouhanni by 143 seconds with 3 sprint stages remaining.
@DiCyc-Haha well neither team had their A team there, it was more like their C or D squad
BOUHANNI STRIKES AGAIN
10 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: The 3 jersey holders (from left to right) Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, Youth), Mark Cavendish (Etixx, Points), Danny Pate (Sky, Overall) share a word prior to the start of Stage 3 of the Tour of Qatar.
MESAIEED, QATAR— The 3rd Stage of the Tour of Qatar gave Cofidis their 3rd win of the season with French sprint prodigy Nacer Bouhanni piping Mark Cavendish (Etixx) in a photo finish in the world famous Petroleum city of Mesaieed. Ian Stannard (Sky) took over the leaders jersey from teammate Danny Pate.
Following yesterday’s team time trial, the Cofidis team again set its sights on controlling the pace of the peloton and setting Nacer Bouhanni up for the sprint at the end of the stage. Unfortunately, the team did suffer a blow, losing Cyril Lemoine to a crash just 20 km into the stage, Lemoine suffered a broken wrist in the same crash that brought down teammates Florian Senechal and Nacer Bouhanni who fortunately, did not suffer any injuries.
After receiving medical attention at the race doctor’s car, Senechal and Bouhanni both readied themselves for the sprint, as Senechal was a vital part of the leadout for the sprinter. With 2 km to go the Cofidis team hit the front, and held full control of the field until 500 meters to go when Cavendish and Bouhanni kicked off their duel.
Cavendish shot out up the right side of the road while Bouhanni ripped around the left side of leadout man Dominique Rollin and immediately pulled even with Cavendish. Both riders went all out to the line, and in the end a small throw of the bike from the petit Frenchman was enough to unseat the World’s best sprinter, at least for one day.
“I must say, this isn’t the most prestigious victory of my career, but it is the sweetest,” an elated Bouhanni said at the line. “To be able to beat the world’s best in a sprint is obviously something huge, and it shows that I am developing into one of the sport’s best, at least I hope!” But it wasn’t clear who Bouhanni was happier to beat, Cavendish or former teammate Arnaud Demare of FDJ. “To beat Demare is also a piece of sweet justice, he was Madiot’s favored son even though my wins were more prestigious and in larger races. To win this stage ahead of Demare, and do so with a few riders I brought from that team is proof enough that I made the right decision to leave. That over there isn’t a true team, and Madiot isn’t a true leader, but that’s all in the past now, I plan on letting my performance on the road show that.”
The Tour of Qatar continues tomorrow with Stage 4 another day that should favor the sprinters.
BOUHANNI CLAIMS QATAR CROWN
13 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: Nacer Bouhanni had a lot to celebrate during his time in Qatar.
DOHA, QATAR— Nacer Bouhanni claimed the second career overall general classification victory by taking the win at the Tour of Qatar. Bouhanni won stages 2-4 and claimed an additonal 2 podium finishes. The wins bring Bouhanni’s early season total to 5, he is well on course to match or even better last year’s total of 11.
Bouhanni took the leader’s jersey after claiming stage 4, he followed that up with a 2nd place finish to surprise Stage 5 victor, Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural), Bouhanni didn’t finish out his overall win in style as he was boxed in during the Stage 6 sprint and was relegated to 16th place, unfortunately that prevented him from claiming the point’s classification as well, but Bouhanni was more than happy to give that up in place of the yellow winner’s jersey.
“I couldn’t be happier to take this victory,” a jubilant Bouhanni said as he descended from the final podium. “To take this victory and 3 stages over the world’s best sprinter gives me great confidence moving forward, I have a lot of goals for the season and with the first one, Paris-Nice coming up soon, I need to have full confidence and full form, and although I am not there yet, I am building.” When asked about his ongoing feud with Arnaud Demare and his former FDJ team, Bouhanni preferred to keep rather mum on the subject, “I do not want this to be an ongoing headline all season,” Bouhanni said “I prefer to keep this on the road, and look, I took 3 stages and the overall, and they took nothing.” Although Bouhanni had to take one jab at his former squad, “It is called a rivalry, no? Well, a rivalry is when two fierce competitors who are on the same level go at it, well I have 5 wins this year, he has none, that is no rivalry!”
Cofidis resumes its Middle Eastern swing in 4 days time when the team begins the Tour of Oman.
COFIDIS ANNOUNCES WILDCARD SELECTIONS
16 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: The Cofidis team will again be taking part in some of the biggest races on cycling’s calendar
PARIS, FRANCE —The Cofidis, Solutions Credits team is pleased to announce that it has received wildcard selections to 11 of the first 13 UCI WorldTour events on the calendar. The team has receive the news that it will take part in some of the biggest races on the planet, including 3 of cycing’s monuments and the biggest race on the planet. They are:
Paris-Nice (FRA)
Milano-San Remo (ITA) *
Volta a Cataluyna (ESP)
E3 Harelbeke (BEL)
Gent-Wevelgem (BEL)
Ronde van Vlaanderen (BEL) *
Vuelta a Pais Vasco (ESP)
Paris-Roubaix (FRA) *
Amstel Gold Race (NED)
La Fleche Wallone (BEL)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege (BEL)*
Tour de France
Team manager Yvon Sanquer was happy with the news that his team would be riding in nearly all of the early season WorldTour races. “It is always exciting for us to take part in top level races, we have a great team this year and I am excited to see how we perform against the world’s best in the world’s biggest races,” Sanquer said. “Our team is trying to get back into the WorldTour, it is my plan to apply for a WT license this fall, so it is important that we show ourselves well in these races.” “In fact, I think we have a chance to be selected for most of the rest WT races this season, we have even applied for a bid in the Giro d’Italia, but I am unsure of the selection, all I know is that I am very excited to get started with these races, and I hope our team can take a few higher profile wins!”
RUIJGH, TURGIS SHINE, BOUHANNI FLAT IN OMAN
16 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: After winning the Tour of Qatar last week, Nacer Bouhanni (in white) was unable to repeat his success in Oman, missing out on a stage victory during the 6 Stage race.
MATRAH CORNICHE, OMAN —In cycling, one day you can be on top of the world, and the next you are kicked to the curb after a few off days and this was the case for Sprinter Nacer Bouhanni in the Tour of Oman. Bouhanni took 3 stage victories and overall honors in the Tour of Qatar last week, but this week in Oman he was shut out and really lacking the finishing speed that allowed him to shine in the earlier parts of the season. Luckily for Bouhanni, teammates Rob Ruijgh and Anthony Turgis were able to pick up the slack and achieve 2 very impressive results for the Cofidis team.
Leading up to this stage race, Bouhanni suffered from a bout of dehydration in the hot desert, and it showed in stages 1-3 where he was only able to manage a best placing of 4th on stage 2. Bouhanni who was contemplating withdrawing from the race bravely stuck it out and played a huge role in the support of team GC hope Ruijgh on stages 4 and 5.
With such names in the race like Nibali, Contador, Rodriguez, and Bardet in the race, Ruijgh was an probably not even considered for a Top 35 placing, but the Dutchman used a strong performance on Green Mountain and flawless strategy to finish 3rd overall in the race!
On Stage 4 (Green Mountain) the team tried to use strategy to give Ruijgh an ally up the road and when the breakaway was reeled in, Nacer Bouhanni took off up the road at the intermediate sprint point and forged a minute’s advantage, a key ally up the road for Ruijgh if he was able to hang with the leaders.
Unfortuntely for the team, Ruijgh was not able to hang with the likes of Contador, Rodriguez and Bardet, and had to settle for 11th place on the day, losing 2’50” to stage winner Rodriguez.
On Stage 5, the terrain better suited the punchy Ruijgh and he sought again to use strategy to try to steal a few place on GC up into the top 10. So the team sent 21 year old, Anthony Turgis up the road in the break. Turgis was clearly the strongest man in the break shedding 7 of his 8 companions, only Damiano Caruso (BMC) was able to hang on, but that wasn’t for long as the road kicked upward with 3 wicked asencions ahead of a speedy descent to the finish line.
On the second ascention, Italian champ Nibali accelerated away with Peter Sagan and Ruijgh saw this as the perfect chance to attack as well and leapfrog up to his teammate Turgis who was still 4 minutes ahead of the peloton at the time, making him the virtual race leader on the road.
Nibali used his expert climbing skills to reach Turgis first and the pair soon worked well together before being joined by the descenders, Sagan and Ruijgh, it was clear that the stage would be fought for by the leading quartet, and unless Nibali was dropped, he would claim the GC victory.
Unfortunately for our boys, on the final ascention they were not able to match the pace of the elite riders and they were forced to fight to hold on for the minor places behind the strongest riders in the race. As the 2 crossed the line 52 seconds behind the stage winner Sagan, they shared a handshake and a smile knowing they stamped the race with the Cofidis name, and they also had a few nice GC positions to show for their work, Ruijgh in 3rd overall and Turgis in 6th.
Unfortunately the momentum wasn’t carried forward by Bouhanni on the final stage, as he finished a distant second behind the man he had beaten 3 times in the last week, mark Cavendish.
As Ruijgh stepped down from the final podium he was all smiles, “this was a very unexpected result, I know nobody else expected it, and I certainly didn’t, myself!” he said in disbelief. “But the strategy we employed was amazing, i had good legs, but obviously I am not capable of following the best riders in the world, so in order to get this result, I have to outsmart them, which is just what we did!” “I have to thank the team for the faith they have placed in me, they took a risk in signing me and then giving me a leadership role in my first race, I hope I have proven my worth to them, and I hope to have the opportunity to lead a few more races this year.” “Also, I have to thank Anthony Turgis, he put in a huge turn for me today, and I certainly would not have achieved this result without him! He is a huge talent, and we will see him winning races quite soon, I believe.”
Turgis, however, downplayed his result, “Yes, I am thrilled to have finished 6th overall, I am just 21 years old and a neo-pro and I was able to beat the likes of Aru, Bardet, and van Garderen. That is something!” he said with jubilance. “Although, I did get lucky, that my break was not chased hard, and I got in with a good group, I was thrilled to rub shoulders with 2 of the best in the world, and this will certainly be the highlight of my season!”
Hope everyone is enjoying the story! Thanks for reading and comments/improvements are more than welcome
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR IN THE TOUR DU HAUT VAR
17 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: Clement Venturini (red) and Florian Senechal (white) both had their share of individual success in the 2 day Tour du Haut Var, but the team could not pull out a victory.
DRAGUIGNAN, FRANCE —The 2 day Tour du Haut Var always provides for exciting racing, and the 2015 edition was no different, for Cofidis the race brought about a number of close calls, but unfortunately the team walks away without a victory as they build up to the season’s first big objective, Paris-Nice in about 2 weeks time.
The race consists of 2 very hilly stages in usually very cold weather because of this, Cofidis brought a number of fast finishers who have the ability to get over the climbs. The team was putting its GC hopes on the shoulders of Yohann Bagot and Adrien Petit, 2 riders who are desperate for success in 2015.
Stage 1 was a very monotonous day, and in fact there was just 1 rider who made the breakaway, Cofidis’s own, Clement Venturini. Venturini built up a solid lead of 12 minutes, but as he tuckered out throughout the day he was eventually reeled back in by the peloton as the real fireworks were preparing to be launched, but Venturini didn’t walk away empty handed as he crested the 2 climbs on the stage solo giving him the King of the Mountains lead, a lead which he was almost certain to hold through the final stage.
As Venturini was reeled back in with around 20 kilometers to go, the Cofidis team, along with IAM Cycling took to the front looking to try to keep it to a bunch sprint, unfortunately for both of the sprinters in those teams, that was not meant to be.
A 3 rider break forged ahead of the field with 10 kilometers to go, and although the peloton was always within sight of these 3, they never reeled them back in and the trio; Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Florian Senechal (Cofidis), and Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin) fought it out with Moser nipping Geschke for victory with Senechal taking 3rd, a mere 11 seconds before the field came home.
In Stage 2, again Venturini took to the breakaway, with 2 climbs on the day, he only needed to score on the first climb to wrap up the mountains jersey, and of course pride reigned supreme in this sprint as he took on breakaway companion Brian Bulgac (LottoNL) in a full out sprint for the points, Venturini took the maximum points locking up that competition, but he did have a few choice words for the Dutch rider.
As the kilometers wound down it appeared again as if the race was coming down to a mass sprint, but it was not to be as Simon Yates (Orica) and Matthias Frank (IAM) took off and opened up a quick 45 second gap, Cofidis’s GC hope Bagot pursued them, closing the gap rather rapidly and forming another trio that would not only duke it out for stage honors but the overall victory.
In the end, Frank was stuck leading out the other 2 and although Bagot was in the prime spot, 3rd wheel he did not have the strength nor finishing kick to over take Yates, who won the stage and the overall ahead of Bagot and Frank.
After the stage Bagot had a tough time putting into words the emotions he was feeling: “Yeah, a podium is great, but it is very bittersweet finishing 2nd in a 3-up sprint,” he said. “Usually I have a solid kick, but I left so much on the road bridging up to the 2 that I had nothing left in the sprint, as soon as Yates kicked I tried to go, but my legs just wouldn’t roll over at all. It’s frustrating because I felt like I was the fastest out of the 3 but I will have to settle for 2nd and keep working this year.” “This is a positive result in the early going I hope to keep this momentum going forward,” Bagot remarked.
Although the team was unsuccessful in gaining victory either in the overall or a stage, the team brought in a bevy of great results on the race. A 2nd and 3rd on the 2 stages, 2nd overall, 4th overall, the mountains jersey, and the team classification. The team has strengthened its grip on the UCI EuropeTour lead. Overall victory in that competiton would be huge for the team because it would mean promotion to the UCI WorldTour a major objective for the squad.
The team heads to Belgium for the first cobbled semi-classic of the season, Omloop Het Nieusblad, a race that is very important to the title sponsor, who is expecting a podium place. Check back in to see if the team could deliver!
Stage Winners:
VANBILSEN’S SOLO MOVE IS A BRIDGE TOO FAR IN OMLOOP
28 FEBRUARY 2015
CAPTION: The peloton rides over a cobbled section in the early part of Omloop Het Nieusblad on Saturday afternoon.
GENT, BELGIUM —With the calendar getting ready to turn to March, that means that the cycling calendar is preparing to turn to the cobbled classics, and Omloop Het Nieusblad is the first “semi-classic” of the season, an appetizer of what’s to come in the next 2 months. And if Omloop is any indication of what’s to come, we are in for a crazy, and intense cobbled season.
The Cofidis team came into Gent hoping that they would be able to start off the cobbled season the right way, and although the team left that same town around 5 hours later without a victory, they were pleased with the performance of a new arrival, yet disappointed at the same time with some veterans of the team.
New signee Kenneth Vanbilsen led the Cofidis charge finished with an outstanding 3rd place finish after a long solo attack fell short of victory in the final 400 meters. However, Adrien Petit and Florian Senechal who were expected to compete for a solid placing, fell well short of their goals and registered mid-pack finishes.
As the peloton rode through miserable and frigid conditions all day, it was apparent that truly the strongest man in the race would take the win, and there were a number of strong men on the startline including last year’s winner Ian Stannard (Sky), the man who finished 2nd to him, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), former monuments winners like Fabian Cancellara (Trek), Tom Boonen (Etixx), Niki Terpstra (Etixx), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), and strong challengers like John Degenkolb (Giant) and of course Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).
As the day wore on it was evident that Etixx-Quickstep was going to use every card up their sleeve to break the race into fragments, first with 40km to go Zdenek Stybar attacked out of the main group on a small up hill cobbled section, which cut the front group from around 70 riders down to 35 or so. Then 5km later it was Stijn Vandenbergh who ventured off the front breaking the group down to 16 which included 2 of our riders, Vanbilsen, and Petit. Senechal, was left with only 2 teammates in the chasing groups, Steve Chainel, and Gert Joeaar took up the pace as Dom Rollin abandoned the race due to extreme fatigue from all of the pacemaking on the front, unfortunately Senechal would never see the leading group again as he would finish well over 5 minutes back.
And if having Senechal off the back wasn’t enough, Petit punctured out of the front group with just 12km to go leaving Vanbilsen alone with 13 other riders including fast men like Degenkolb, Kristoff, Sagan, Van Avermaet and Debusschere.
Within sight of the 10km to go banner, Vanbilsen felt a slight lull in the leading group and took off, trying to go solo to the finish.
He built up a gap of around 30 seconds and was looking good for victory with 5km to go when he was up to 42 seconds, but unfortunately for him, Sagan and Degenkolb attacked from the withering chase group and quickly began eating into our Belgian’s advantage.
With 1km to go, he had just 10 seconds and his pedaling became very labored, his shoulders swayed from side to side, and his face was just riddled with pain as he dug deep for the line. But cycling is a fickle sport, and many times the most courageous rider does not triumph and that was the case today as Sagan and Degenkolb both overtook Vanbilsen in the final 300 meters leaving the Belgian heartbroken as he watched Sagan raise his arms in triumph just a few feet ahead of him.
“This is the biggest heartbreak I have ever experienced, it hurts more than anything,” Vanbilsen said with a look of disappointment on his face. “I guess I should be smiling, a podium in a race like this is an amazing result, but when you come so close to victory to have it ripped away in the end is painful. I took my chance with around 10km to go because I knew I would be lucky for a Top 5 with the sprinters in that leading group, I am nowhere close to their level, and in order to get big rewards you have to take big risks. But, I was just dead in the end that is a brutal race, and I gave it my all but it was not enough.”
Asked if he believe that he could be this competitive in another cobbled classic like this Vanbilsen replied “No” very matter of factly. “This was my best shot. I am no Cancellara, I cannot win Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders, I was very lucky to get in the front group today, I spent all my time working for Florian and Adrien today. I suppose I will go to the cobbled classics like E3, Paris Roubaix, etc. and try to support them, but I will be very upset over this one for a long time.”
Cofidis takes back to the road tomorrow in Kuurne-Bruxxles-Kuurne, another cobbled semi-classic, the Cofidis team will remain the same except Nacer Bouhanni will take Rollin’s spot as the race usually ends in a sprint.
