Noticiero El Big Picture del Deporte: L'Équipe, Emmanuel Hubert, patron d'Arkéa-Samsic, nourrit « de fortes ambitions » sur le Tour 2020

L'Équipe, Emmanuel Hubert, patron d'Arkéa-Samsic,  nourrit « de fortes ambitions » sur le Tour 2020, 7 janvier 2020. 

Emmanuel Hubert (manager général d'Arkéa-Samsic) : « Notre recrutement 2020 a clairement été effectué afin de pouvoir participer aux plus grandes courses du calendrier. Nous nourrissons de fortes ambitions (sur le Tour de France 2020). Les arrivées de Nairo Quintana, Nacer Bouhanni et Diego Rosa avaient pour but de démontrer nos intentions à ce niveau-là. Le prochain Tour de France a été dessiné pour les grimpeurs et nous avons construit une équipe riche tant au niveau individuel que sur le plan collectif, aussi bien pour cette année que pour les suivantes.

• Nairo Quintana a gagné une étape du Tour de France en 2019(la 18e étape, entre Embrun et Valloire). Il a aussi déjà terminé par deux fois deuxième du classement général du Tour en 2013 et 2015, et une fois troisième en 2016. Le champion de France Warren Barguil s'est quant à lui classé dixième du Tour l'an passé en étant au contact des tout meilleurs pendant trois semaines. Avec deux grimpeurs d'un tel niveau, nous pouvons espérer de belles choses sur cette édition du Tour de France 2020.

Business: Velo News, French stars like what they see in 2020 Tour de France route

French stars across the peloton applauded the unconventional route short on time trials and packed for of surprises.

Absent this year are the prologue, team time trial or even a longer, flatter individual time trial. The route’s lone test against the clock is a climbing route ending high in the Vosges on the Planche des Belles Filles. Perhaps not coincidentally, the penultimate stage is just down the road from the home of Thibaut Pinot.

Thibaut Pinot, Groupama-FDJ

• “At first glance, it’s an ideal Tour route for me.” 
• “I can dream of doing even better than last year. I am more motivated than ever to prepare for the race better than I ever have before.”
• “If I had been able to draw the time trial out myself on a map, this would have been it.” “The cherry on the cake is the time trial in the Vosges. I know the roads like the back of my hand. I hope to be playing a big role in the decisive moment of the Tour.”
• “The big mountains are hard and selective, but even the medium-mountain stages are challenging. There will be a lot of room to attack.” 
• “I hope to be at an even a better level than I was this year. This route excites me and motivates me.”

Julian Alaphilippe, Deceuninck-Quick-Step

• “Suddenly I was the leader and everyone started dreaming, even me, I’d be pedaling away thinking more and more about it,” Alaphilippe said. “2020 will be different, but honestly I just can’t wait.”

Romain Bardet, Ag2r-La Mondiale

• “Once again the Tour de France has created a very beautiful route.”
• “The number of stages in the mountains will offer us the chance to put on a good show, and I imagine that many riders will want to take part in it.”

Warren Barguil, Arkéa-Samsic

• “The course requires everyone to be on their toes right from the start,” said Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), who won two stages and the climber’s jersey in 2017. “The Tour is going to be demanding every day. There will be plenty of room to move.”

References:

Velo News, French stars like what they see in 2020 Tour de France route, Andrew Hood, October 16, 2019.

Business: Media, Arkéa-Samsic with the Colombia superstar Nairo Quintana applies for WorldTour status in 2020

Cycling Weekly, Arkéa-Samsic and Cofidis have applied for WorldTour licences ahead of the 2020 season, with the ranks of the top tier of professional cycling potentially swelling to 20 teams next year

• Arkéa-Samsic have made a number of high-profile signings recently as they show their intent to compete at cycling’s highest level, with Movistar’s Nairo Quintana switching to the French team, along with Winner Anacona. Meanwhile, when André Greipel’s contract termination was announced, they moved to sign a new sprint team, gaining the signatures of Nacer Bouhanni, Daniel McLay and Thomas Boudat.
• In April the UCI said it would change its rules to allow an extra two teams to gain WorldTour status, from 18 to 20, with five teams originally in the hunt for promotion. 
• Following audits and assessment of teams’ compliance, the UCI say they will announce their decision on the allocation and renewal of licences on December 19 at the latest.

Cycling News, Arkéa-Samsic and Cofidis are the only two current second division sides seeking to move up to the WorldTour

• Under new rules for the next three-year period of the WorldTour, up to 20 teams can secure a place at the top level. All 18 current WorldTour teams will be assured a place if they finish the season in the top 20 places in the retrospective three-year world ranking for UCI men's teams covering points scored in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the 10 best riders of each team.
• Should Arkéa-Samsic and Cofidis make the top 18 of the ranking, then they will have satisfied the sporting criteria necessary to make the WorldTour for the next three years. Prospective teams also have to satisfy ethical, financial, organisational and administrative rules in order to secure a WorldTour spot.

Velo News, Quintana hoping for ‘100 percent’ support in new team

• Colombian Nairo Quintana – second twice in the Tour de France and stage winner in 2018 and 2019 – wants to have “100 percent support” from his next team for 2020.
• For Quintana, who has struggled in the Tour over the past three editions, a new start will be welcome. “That is the idea, to be able to find a team where I feel comfortable, where I am happy and where they can support me 100 percent,” Quintana said. “Where I feel like what I am and that we can shine more than ever.”

Cycling Weekly, Arkéa-Samsic have said that Quintana will act as a team leader alongside Warren Barguil, the French national road race champion.

• General manager of Arkéa-Samsic, Emmanuel Hubert, said the team will now target winning a Grand Tour within three seasons, and that they now have the squad to rival the best WorldTour outfits.
• “On paper, our 2020 team, composed of 28 riders, will have nothing to envy to the best teams of the World Tour. We give ourselves three seasons to make the project a reality by winning a Grand Tour,” he said.
• “The alliance between Nairo Quintana and Warren Barguil must be an added strength for them. They must use one another to progress. Nairo Quintana won the Tour of Italy and the Tour of Spain and has three podiums in the Tour de France. I am also convinced that Warren Barguil has the ability to shine in the overall standings and it is on this path that we want to bring him.”