Sylvain Chavanel wasn`t the only French breakaway specialist who retired after the Chrono des Nations on Sunday. Groupama-FDJ`s Jérémy Roy also hung up his cleats after the French time trial in Les Herbiers - although he was supposed to have retired the previous weekend after Paris-Tours. In an interview with L`Equipe on Tuesday, Roy explained how his season was extended beyond Paris-Tours in order to help cover injuries on the team, although just a few weeks before he was due to retire, even Paris-Tours - Roy`s `home race` - wasn`t on his programme. `Three weeks ago, the Groupama-FDJ sports directors met up to work out the end-of-season race programme,` Roy told L`Equipe. `A lot of riders were motivated and on form, and the team staff had already started thinking about the 2019 season.ADVERTISEMENT `It mean that I was left a little sidelined. I wasn`t going to be doing Paris-Tours, near where I live, and I wasn`t going to be doing Il Lombardia with Thibaut,` explained Roy. Roy`s great friend, Thibaut Pinot, is also the teammate that Roy raced most with during his career, the French newspaper points out: 392 race days together since Pinot joined Roy`s FDJ team in 2010. `That`s more race days than I`ve done with Benoît Vaugrenard, who I`ve been on the team with for 16 years,` said Roy.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
|
