Apeldoorn (Netherlands) (AFP)

Europe, springboard to Olympus: from Wednesday to Sunday, the French delegation hopes to win medals at the Apeldoorn European Track Cycling Championships in the Netherlands and progress on the road to qualification for Tokyo-2020 .

"It's an important meeting to see where we are a little less than a year from the Games," said national coach Herman Terryn, responsible for the sprint events, in the midst of the pedal buzz that fills the Velodrome of the center of the Netherlands.

The continental and Olympic competitions are closely linked, since the qualification for Tokyo depends on the performances achieved during the previous Olympiad.

And the European championships, second source of points behind the world championships, are worth their weight in gold.

"When you have good performances at the European championships, very high, we are not far from aiming for the world title behind," says Herman Terryn.

Hence the importance of being well represented in Apeldoorn. On the French side, the goal is set at "four medals, men and women combined, in the Olympic disciplines", says Bruno Lecki, track manager of the French Federation of Cycling (FFC).

"It's more than realistic," said sprinter Melvin Landerneau, who is competing in his first elite European championships.

With six Olympic disciplines (three sprint, three endurance) for each gender, the French and their competitors can be illustrated in various specialties.

But in view of the Games, the Tricolores have so far shone in sprint, a branch of the track that includes the keirin, and individual and team speed.

Second in the Olympic ranking (the first eight picking a ticket for Tokyo), "the men's team speed is qualified," ensures Bruno Lecki.

For its sprinters, however, the FFC hopes a qualification via individual events (keirin and speed).

"We have an athlete (Mathilde Gros, editor's note) who performs individually but has a lot of difficulty in team speed (...) We therefore preferred to give up the team speed" feminine, says Bruno Lecki.

Race Result: Herman Terryn's goal is to field "five sprinters" at the Olympic Games, and to fight for medals in all disciplines.

- The pursuit, a challenge -

The roadmap is less clear in terms of endurance events (team pursuit, American and omnium), historically less favorable to the French.

To this lesser appetite is added a new Olympic qualification system, which came into effect after the Rio Games in 2016 and which is penalizing for the French team.

From now on, "the qualification system goes through the team pursuit, men and women, then the American, then the omnium", says Bruno Lecki.

"If we qualify a pursuit team, we automatically have an American team, if we qualify an American, we automatically have an omnium rider," he argues.

But the men's pursuit team, keystone of the new qualifying system, is only 15th in the Olympic ranking, far from the 8th and last qualifying place.

The 9th ranked pursuiters are better placed and expect performances at the European Championships to climb one position and win their ticket to Japan in 2020.

Remain in Apeldoorn, the first challenge will be to apprehend the track.

"She + navigates + a little, it's not very fluid," regrets the pursuer Coralie Demay.

"It does not look like the drawing of our usual track at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, they are not the same landmarks," says Herman Terryn.

From there to upset the hierarchy, there is a step that Coralie Demay does not cross.

For the pursuer, the "nations a little recurrent" will still be at the rendezvous in Apeldoorn: "Great Britain, Germany, Italy ... and France, eh!", She concludes smirking.

© 2019 AFP