Fortuneo-Samsic (Continental pro) launches this Friday its cohesion internship for several days in Cicé-Blossac (Ille-et-Vilaine). After a failed season, the team based in Bruz wants to take advantage of these moments to create the conditions for renewal. Interview with Emmanuel Hubert, the general manager.
What is the purpose of this internship?
Consolidate affinities, create others because new heads arrive. For these, it must also be an opportunity to discover all the staff, the structure. The runners will be entitled to many activities. Monday and Tuesday, there will for example something on and in the water. Evenings will be important. We'll be between us, we'll laugh. These courses must make it easier to put the last stroke of kidney, then, in the race ... The bike, it will be time to do this winter during our courses in Spain.
This internship will also be the opportunity to debrief 2018?
Obviously. Collectively and individually. To all, I will tell them that it is in defeat that we must learn and progress. I will not be in gloriole, clearly, but we must learn the lessons of this negative season to rebound. It's a fact: 2018 has not been a good year, but it's happening! And I fundamentally believe that the soul of the team is always there.
What lessons do you remember?
Already, we needed a sprinter capable of winning to be the guiding thread and pulling everyone up. That's why we recruited André Greipel. When you do not have this runner, it starts a dynamic and it's more complicated to "put the ball at the bottom". What I want is to find this atmosphere of winning.
"Yvon Ledanois will be the boss of the sportsman"
A new organization will be put in place, Yvon Ledanois will remain sports director but will become the boss of the sportsman. The roles may be better defined, and everyone will find it better, especially in the management of races and calendars.
Has the arrival of Barguil a little "disturbed" riders unaccustomed to evolve with a leader?
Without a doubt. It was until then a team where everyone had a chance. Many, I think, have taken refuge a little bit by saying "go ahead, we work for you, you will win, and it will go". But Warren, in addition, is not a runner who wins ten races a year ... It was not a lack of will on their part, but it may have been basically a season of adaptation. I think the arrival of André Greipel, a big hard worker, will inspire runners. And if we win quickly, it can free everyone, allow some to resume their fundamentals.
Are you confident about your selection for the Tour de France?
I believe it. It will be complicated because other teams are there and we will have to prove ourselves, but we have arguments. Greipel arrives with his 11 victories on the Tour, Barguil is still one of the muses of French cycling. Then sportingly, our start of the season will be up. 2019 will be an excellent vintage.
But sportingly, with two wins over the 2018 season, do you think you have your place?
It's not all about victories! Admittedly, we missed out in 2018, but on the Tour, we had a good behavior, we were an actor, we do not have much to reproach us ...
Recruit André Greipel, it is also to make sure to be invited on the Tour?
No. Greipel is simple: I am a competitor and I like to win. His arrival offers us more guarantees of success in this objective. It contributes, after Barguil last year, to the expansion of the team.
After a failed 2018 season, are you worried about becoming a medium-term team?
Not at all. We have two ambitious partners. That said, we can not afford to do three seasons like this ... After, do not dramatize either. Let's not forget where we come from. We went all the way down, we certainly had a delicate year 2018, but the development of the team is far from over. Rando. Ride with the pros, departure Sunday at 9 am golf Cicé-Blossac. On-site registration.