Published on : 03/04/2020
The second best Frenchman in the UCI ranking, who shined last weekend in Boucles Drôme Ardeche races, will be the leader of the Cofidis team at Paris-Nice with the desire to do well in the stages and aim for a result in the general classification.
The first big stop on the road to the Tour de France, will start next Sunday. Paris-Nice is back on track and, as every year, is taking on board a little bit of the magic that makes you dream so much at the roadside in July. For the Cofidis team, this first major test of the season promises to be veryexciting. The team has been built around Guillaume Martin.
A strong team
Second Frenchman in the UCI ranking, the rider took part in the Tour of San Juan (Argentina) before an altitude training course at Etna (Italy). He was able to get a first test of his condition on races by finishing 4th and 3rd last weekend, respectively at the Faune-Ardèche Classic and the Royal Bernard Drome Classic.
To support him, he will be able to count on the experience of Pierre-Luc Périchon, a loyal road captain, on Nicolas Edet, 5th in the Faun-Ardèche Classic and 5th in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes. They will be accompanied by Anthony Pérez, winner of the 1st stage of the Tour of the Alpes-Maritimes, the experienced Cyril Lemoine, the youth of Damien Touzé (7th in the Etoile de Bessèges) and the Belgian Kenneth Vanbilsen.
THE COMMENTS
Guillaume MARTIN:
"
I approach this Paris-Nice with confidence and ambition. Last weekend confirmed my condition after a hard training in altitude at Etna (Italy). Whether in the Ardèche or following the races from a distance, I find that Cofidis imposes a great collective strength. During the Drome Classic, we knew how to take the race in hand and be very present. That's necessarily motivating before Paris-Nice. There will certainly be moments to shine and we'll do everything we can to be well placed, especially during the last two stages. »
Cédric VASSEUR, general manager: "
This is the first major event of the year. We saw that Guillaume was very strong last weekend and that he lacked little to win. We decided to field a team dedicated to him. The objective is to win a stage and to be well positioned in the general classification. With Anthony Pérez and Nicolas Edet in particular, who have shown great determination since the start of the season, we're approaching this "race to the sun" with a lot of enthusiasm."