Bouhanni and Demare headline French team for World Championships
Coquard misses out, while leader💮ship will be decide🍨d when squad reaches Qatar
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nacer Bouhanni and Arnaud Demare will lead France at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:World Championships road race in Qatar next month, giving the t🔯eam two strong options but also a potential leadership headache.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Bryan Coquard, who won 11 races in the 📖first half of the season, does not make the nine-man team, announced on Monday, but is at the top of the list o🥃f substitutes.
Aside from Coquard'𝄹s Direct Energie teammate Adrien Petit, the line-up is composed evenly of trade teammates of Bouhanni and Demare. From Bouhanni's Cofidis leadout train come Christophe Laporte, Geoffrey Soupe, and Cyril Lemoine, while Yoann Offredo, William Bonnet, 𝓡and Marc Sarreau are all part of Demare's FDJ team.
"I based the decision on experience, results, and performances at🍒 the highest level, both in the so-called Classics that have the possibility of echelons, and those races that demand experience in th💎e sprints," said head coach Bernard Bourreau of his selection.
"Also based on the teams which have squads who are still out there at the big WorldTourꦬ races, like the Eneco Tour which just finished this weekend🌠."
While the high-profile German leadership tussle between Andre Greipel and M🍌arcel Kittel has grabbed most of the headli🐈nes, the French's is no less intriguing, with past tensions between Bouhanni and Demare well documented.
Their rivalry stretches back to their pre-professional days and the tensions came to the boil while they were together at FDJ in 2014, with team manager Marc Madiot describing them as "168澳洲5最新开奖结果:two cocks in the henhouse". After losing out to Demare in selection for Milan-San Remo and the Tour de France in 2014 - and also losing to him at the French nationals - Bouhanni decided to moꦏve to Cofidis for 2015.
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The largely flat 257km Doha route, which features finishing laps of a fast but sinuous circuit on the Corniche, is expected to culminate in a bunch sprint, though the length of tꦇhe race and the early foray into the exposed desert are factors which could make it a more open race.
In terms of performances this season, Bouhanni has arguably been the superior sprinter, with nine victories to Demare's four, but the FDJ man's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:win at Milan-San Remo - proof of his worth in a long one-day race - 🎀perhaps evens out the balance of poꦡwer.
"We are going to decide on the tactics we'll employ in Doha when we're out there and, above all, we will determine the roles of each💟 rider according to the cond🍸itions and eventualities that may materialise in the race in Qatar," added Bourreau.
French team for the World Championships road race: Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Arnaud Démare 🐻(FDJ), Christophe Laporte (Cofidis), Yoann Offredo (FDJ), Adrien Petit (Direct-Energie), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), William Bonnet (FDJ), Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis), Marc Sarreau (FDJ)
Substitute riders: Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-la Mondiale), Angelo Tulik (Direct E𝓡nergie) et Florian Sénéchal (Cofidis), Jérémy Roy (FDJ).