She knows the red house well, having already spent a season there. It was in 2020 and Anaïs Morichon was then making her first stint with Team Arkea Samsic. Except that in addition to the many races canceled due to the Covid, it failed to showcase itself sufficiently in the events it contested and was not retained at the end of the season.
Last year, she therefore went back to the lower floor, as an amateur, with the DN of Centre-Val de Loire, taking a license in the Chartres training of President Destouches, and that did her a lot of good. In particular thanks to this 3rd place at the French Championships hopes that she went to seek after being extricated from a group of ten, in a bump, in the last three kilometers.
The fact that Franck (Renimel, the sports director) contacted me and that Arkea took me back, gave me confidence in myself and the desire to take a step forward.
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“Sprinting isn’t my forte, so I knew I had to get out there first,” she recalls. In the end, it clicked. I think about it every time now. I tell myself that if I did it once, why not do it again”.
On the strength of this 2021 season which has allowed her to “show what[elle] worth”, Anaïs again caught the eye of Arkea Samsic. Until making his big comeback in the professional peloton at the start of 2022. to take a step forward, ”admits the young woman who signed a two-year contract and found teammates and an entourage already there two years ago.
“The Tour de France, an objective”
This can be felt in his more determined speech, and also already in his relatively sharp start to the season. In April, she chained good results on three World Tour with Paris-Roubaix (36th), La Flèche Wallonne (35th) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (34th), then offered herself a valuable 5th place overall Tour of Britain. “It proves that I have passed a milestone, physically and mentally, and I want to continue,” she said. I took more power and maybe I dare more. I have more self-confidence, so it works better. In any case, I am happy with my start to the season. On the World Tour, I was in good shape and consistent”.
The one who celebrated her 22nd birthday in October does not want to stop there for the rest of the season. With, why not, a participation in the Tour de France. “It’s a goal, just like making places in big races, and continuing to learn and progress,” she notes. History to feel definitely at home in the red house.
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The look of its sports director.
Frank Renimel. “Anaïs came back to us with a lot more maturity. She is more impactful in the way she trains, she has increased her workloads. We are really satisfied. She is not afraid to rub, it is important in a peloton. She has plenty of strengths. She is truly an athlete who is asserting herself. She is still very young, she has plenty of areas for improvement, especially on the physical level. She also needs to gain more self-confidence. But if she continues and gives herself the means, she can do great things.
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Xavier Georges/The People of the Center
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