The French Road Cycling Championships will be held in Cholles, June 23-25, 2022. Very close to the tricolor jersey in recent years, the Norman racers will be following, more on the road than racing against the road – it appears even if the course will not be in their favour.
It’s been 28 years since Norman wore the blue, white, and red shirt. In 1995, Thierry Marie was awarded the first French all-time champion title in history. But to find traces of a sacred regional event on the road, we must go back to 1969, the Manchua victory of Raymond Delile at Soissons. No other Norman runner succeeded in adorning himself with the tricolor, neither before nor after.
However, many cyclists in the area have come close to achieving this in recent years. In 2019 in Al-Fawasir district (44), Orneh Martin clouds, who started from the kilometer, was captured 50 meters from the line by his renegade comrades. among them, Damien Toze, had failed to finish third, behind Warren Bargell and Julian Simon. The Eiffel national (27) did it again two years later, during the last French Championships, disputed in 2021 at Epinal, won by Remy Cavagna single-handedly.
A little further upstream, Alençonnais Anthony Gislin He finished second in 2009, defeated by Dimitri Champion, who dropped him on the final climb to the circuit around Saint-Brieuc, 4 km from the finish.
So, could food shortages end in 2022? Unless there is no surprise, no a priori. Around Cholet, the organizers plotted a course without obvious difficulty, flat, urban and fast. In short, ideal for runners in particular Arnaud Démare, who could become the only runner to win the French Championship four times.
In these high-speed finishes, we cannot say that the Normans are the strongest. Unless there is a scenario with the breakaway coming to a close, or an attack of the final kilometres, it seems unlikely that someone will win Cholet this Sunday.
On the starting line we should find the following entries: Guillaume Martin, François Bidard (Cofidis), Benoît Cosnefroy, Damien Touzé, Mikaël Chérel, Nicolas Prodhomme, Paul Lapeira (AG2R-Citroën), Alexis Gougeard, Adreien Lagrée (BnB Hotels – K , Anthony Delaplace, Kevin Foquelin and Matisse Lovell (Arkia Samsik), Paul Orcellin (Total Energies) and Jeremy Leveau (Roubaix Lille Metropole).
In the time trial (44.3 km), Kevin Foquelin and Matisse Lovell will align this Thursday. The latter will start at 4:01 p.m., when the current champion of France Espoirs and Amateurs in Discipline will depart at 4:11 p.m.
Among women, there are few Normans in the starting line. Veteran Emily Jamie, former resident of Moyon Percy Velo (50), and Jeanne Limaheu (CSM Putto) will line up for the time trial and online event, without being among the favorites to win.
a program :
Thursday 23 June : against the clock
Women Elite event (23 km): from 1 pm to 3 pm to follow Eurosport
Men’s Pro and Amateur event (44.5 km): 2:50 pm to 5:30 pm Follow Eurosport
Saturday 24 June: Online racing
Amateur test: 8:45 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. to continue Chollet TV
Women Elite event (120 km): from 1:30 pm to 4:55 pm to follow France 3
Sunday 25 June: Online racing
Men Elite (240 km): 10:40 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. Follow France 3
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