Cycling: road training will resume, a deliverance for French runners

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

French professional cyclists will be able to resume individual training on May 11. For RFI, Clément Chevrier from AG2R La Mondiale and Jordan Levasseur (Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Métropole), last winner of the Tropical Amissa Bongo, react to this news.  

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Confined since March 17, the riders will finally be able to pedal in the open air, leave their apartment or house, to find their training routes. But they will have to be alone on their country roads, their small steep departmental roads, accompanied either by sunrays or raindrops. Group outings are not allowed at the moment. Edouard Philippe, the Prime Minister, made the long-awaited announcement before the National Assembly on Tuesday April 28. Fans can also go on individual outings.

Maintain physical activity for overall well-being

“  Our daily life has changed so much in recent weeks, we who are always outside and in groups. We had to agree to stay at home, without wasting our energy,  ”says Clément Chevrier by telephone, in a calm voice. The AG2R La Mondiale rider had already been confined a few days after the Tour of the United Arab Emirates last March and the discovery of six new cases of coronavirus. Four teams had been placed in total quarantine but AG2R La Mondiale had been authorized to leave the country four days after the end of the race.

“ For two months, in connection with our trainer, we tried to keep ourselves in shape without wearing out mentally. The idea was to maintain physical activity for overall well-being. We had to accept this confinement by saying that there would be no pressure at the time of the resumption on the road, without panicking, "specifies Clément Chevrier who now realizes that he was"  lucky  "to choose his training places before the pandemic. A freedom that is priceless according to the young man.

In need of adrenaline!

The adrenaline of the competition was also greatly lacking in Clément Chevrier. In the life before, he got up every morning with the objective of being a "  competitor  ". "  But for the moment, we are in uncertainty because we have no date to return to competition,  " admits the one who participated in two Tours of Italy and three Tours of Spain. Even if he will miss a goal in his training, he will not sulk his pleasure, in the Chambéry region, just to leave his apartment and his little balcony. A first step towards a new form of freedom. "  We do not project too much, it would be a lack of respect for all the caregivers who are currently fighting in hospitals,  " he said.

After two months of partial activity, Jean-Batiste Quiclet, performance director at AG2R La Mondiale estimates that we will have to start with long, low intensity outings of at least three weeks. " We must start by erasing this period without training on the road due to confinement with endurance,  " he observes. One of the peculiarities of cycling. Then, the sportsman will be looking for muscle tone and strength, according to Jean-Batiste Quiclet.

Jordan Levasseur, winner of the 2020 Tropical Amissa Bongo. Photo: Tropical Amissa Bongo

"Containment has worn me out psychologically"

Jordan Levasseur is also impatient to regain the freedom to ride alone on his machine. The last winner of the Tropical Amissa Bongo in Gabon is working hard, currently confined with his mother and his sister. " I remember driving for two hours on the morning of the first day of confinement because it started at noon, " says the rider from the Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Métropole formation.

But since then, he has not had the courage to get on his home trainer (device designed to simulate the operation of a bicycle in a small space, note). “  I had never been used to this, and I had a hard time finding motivation to chain for hours on an apartment bike. I was afraid that it would not be beneficial for the future and I discussed it with my trainer,  "explains Jordan Levasseur, who went from fifteen to twenty hours of training per week to just three or four.

"We  will have to be patient. The confinement used me psychologically, I lost my freedom, I who am very often outside. Getting out will do me good. But I'm not going to panic too much because we can't make up for lost time  , ”argues Jordan Lavasseur, who will have been confined in total for fifty-five days in the family home near Rouen. 

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