 
The Beginning
The start of the 2013 season looked very promising as FDJ went into Australia and conquered by winning a stage, the points competition, and the SKODA King of the Mountains jersey.
Nacer Bouhanni sprinting to the team’s first stage win. Santos Tour Down Under, Stage 4.
What followed afterwards was hard to watch. Victories became nonexistent as 2nd places, top 5’s, and top 10’s started to pile up. Race after race the victories got closer and closer but the all attempts came up just short. At least we get treated to screenshots like these along the way:
Truly magnificent. Who knew you could make the desert landscape of Qatar look so good. The pictures look so realistic that the results almost don’t even matter.
The Present
Continuing with the impressive screenshots, the results pick up too. baia takes up the reigns of the FDJ squad the best way he can. It’s not the strongest team in the world, but he gets the team moving forward. In a Tour de France that’s being dominated by Froome and Cavendish, it’s become difficult to snatch a stage victory.
At least they get to show off the French colors with pride as a week before Thibaut Pinot rode away to win the French National RR Championship.
However, FDJ is not riding an anonymous Tour. After a slightly disappointing team time trial, Pinot has started his move up. Slowly but steadily he’s coming into view of the top 10 and - who knows - maybe even beyond that! The Tour is far from over. Halfway to Paris, FDJ will surely have another couple of tricks up their sleeves.
The Future
FDJ is building towards the future. They’ve already announced a signing for the next season - a very promising sprinter named Tristian Dubos. With a squad build around young leaders, they are surely to go places they’ve never gone before. Imagine, if you will, a Thibaut Pinot a few years older. Experienced, hard working, aggressive riding. Arnaud Démare in a few years, ready to battle for Paris - Roubaix. Nacer Bouhanni, with just a little more speed.
It’s all possible and if it all comes true, the real challenge for baia will be to keep such a talented team together! But we’re sure he will manage just fine. And we’ll get some amazing screenshots out of it along the way...
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