Everything will change at AG2R. The name of the team, with which Citroën is joining from 2021, but above all the content of the workforce, more focused on one-day races than it has been since Romain Bardet is the star of the formation of Vincent Lavenu. Greg Van Avermaet and Bob Jungels are the two headliners of Heaven’s recruiting, which suggests promises and asks a few questions.
Last year, Romain Bardet became the second French rider to finish in the Top 15 of the Tour de France seven years in a row. The first since Gustave Garrigou in 1913. The statistics are remarkable, of course. But AG2R no longer seems to be chasing such an ode to unsuccessful regularity. For the formation of Vincent Lavenu – as indeed for Bardet – it is time to win and not to play placed.
The Ciel et Terre team has never gleaned more than five World Tour victories in a single season. Since 2016, it has even been content, each year, with two or three successes in the elite. It is very little and it testifies to an assumed strategy: to aim for the coronation on the Champs-Elysées, more than a litany of bouquets. Banco was familiar with Bardet twice finishing on the Tour podium (2nd in 2016, 3rd in 2017). But he has inexorably moved away. AG2R La Mondiale, which will become AG2R Citroën in 2021, is at a bend.
Cycling
After Van Avermaet and Calmejane, Jungels arrives: AG2R continues its XXL recruitment
–
Naesen’s arrival had (somewhat) paved the way
Witness of this change of course, on one side: the departure of Romain Bardet for Sunweb, and to a lesser extent those of Pierre Latour and Alexandre Geniez at Total Direct Energie. On the other: the three-year signature of Greg Van Avermaet (from CCC, with Michael Schär in his luggage) and that, formalized this Tuesday, by Bob Jungels for two seasons. The 27-year-old Luxembourg rider, notably winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2018, leaves the Deceuninck-Quick Step armada to join the French structure.
With these two high-standing recruits, AG2R strengthens its “classic pole”, confirming an evolution timidly begun by securing the services of Oliver Naesen in 2017. But the Belgian was there as much to protect Bardet in the plain as to play his map on the Flandriennes. The situation will change with the arrival of Van Avermaet, a friend with whom he could form a formidable duo on the cobbles.
Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen wrestling during the GP E3, in 2017, in the wheel of Philippe Gilbert
Credit: Panoramic
Two leaders, one too many?
“The (From Avermaet) will be an example for all our young runners. His complicity with Oliver Naesen, his friend, with whom he sometimes rides in training, will be an additional asset“Lavenu, boss of the team, was delighted to announce the arrival of the reigning Olympic champion earlier this month. While Naesen quipped in a video on Twitter about their future co-leadership:”It’s good that they lured someone to go get my cans.”
Behind Oliver Naesen’s humor, a legitimate question: at the height of his 35 years and with an impressive track record (winner of Paris-Roubaix 2017, in particular), Greg Van Avermaet will he effectively share the responsibilities with his compatriot who, at 29, is approaching the pinnacle of his career. 2nd in Milan-San Remo and 7th in the Round last year, Naesen will perhaps be AG2R’s best card from 2021. It remains to be seen whether strength in numbers will prevail over the complexity of a cohabitation between two candidates for the victory, all friends they are. Especially on the Tour of Flanders, which GVA has been eyeing for so long …
Hunt the natural …
On the other hand, apart from mechanical problems, having these two riders in its workforce seems almost guaranteed to exist in the final of the biggest one-day races in the spring. Lavenu rightly mentioned “the incredible consistency at the highest level“by Van Avermaet to justify the interest of his recruitment. The risk? Transposing the peaks of massifs to cobbled mountains the tendency to accumulate places of honor.
An evil that could continue to shine in the Grand Tours, depending on the role attributed to Jungels, whose ability to “term(is) twice in the Top 10 of the Tour of Italy (6th and 8th in 2016 and 2017)“is put forward by Lavenu. Who adds:”We will bring him our experience in this area and he will be supported by young climbers. “But to counter this, AG2R has also bet on stage hunters in its transfer window.
Calmejane and Sarreau in search of bouquets
Among the sprinters, Marc Sarreau (27) arrives for two years. The defector from Groupama-FDJ has 12 successes, but none in the World Tour. Unlike Lilian Calmejane (27 years old). The adventurer from Total Direct Energie, also credited with 12 victories as a professional, has already raised his arms on the Vuelta (in 2016) and the Tour de France (in 2017). His profile as a non-polarized offensive runner on the overall standings over the three-week races will be invaluable.
Finally, Gijs Van Hoecke (CCC, 28 years old) and the young Damien Touzé (Cofidis, 24 years old) and Stan Dewulf (Lotto Soudal, 22 years old, winner of Paris-Roubaix Espoirs 2018) complete the list, in the arrivals department, for a changing AG2R team. She will turn the page of the Bardet era, paradoxically brilliant and thrilling, especially in July, and inglorious in terms of trophy cabinet. Without guarantee of starting an even more virtuous cycle, but with a workforce that allows it to reasonably set itself the goal.
Romain Bardet who is leaving at the end of the 2020 season, it is a (huge) page that is turned for the AG2R training
Credit: Eurosport
Cycling
Thanks to him, Ag2r has grown well: Bardet, more than a leader
Milan – Sanremo
Frustrated detonator Alaphilippe, Van Aert smart winner
––
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/813b852a-e184-11ea-bea9-02d1dbdc35d1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Halsema threatens earlier closure of Amsterdam catering industry | Inland")
