Franck Renimel: "Extramadura, a race for women climbers »
The Arkéa Pro Cycling Team will compete in the first edition of the Extramadura Féminas, Clara Emond’s first race in our colours.
Pre-race
“I’m delighted to be starting my season with the Arkéa Pro Cycling Team on the roads of Extramadura, which also have quite rough profiles. It’s good, I’m somehow looking forward to breaking the ice and competing in the 2023 season. I’ve had a good winter, I’ve trained well and getting back into the race is something I’m looking forward to. I’m also looking forward to getting back into the Arkéa Pro Cycling Team because the atmosphere between us is great, we get on well and there’s no doubt that this will be reflected in the race on the bike”.
“I know that I am not yet at 100% of my condition, after having cut down after the cyclo-cross season, but racing days as I did recently with a resumption of competition on the Belgian roads, will allow me to progress, because racing allows you to quickly find your rhythm. My mission will be to help our climbers Megan or Clara. It will be a very good test before the Tour de Normandie and then Paris-Roubaix, which will be my first big goal of the 2023 road season”.
The briefing
“The Extramadura Féminas is a new event in the women’s calendar and offers different race formats over three days of competition, with an initial team time trial, then a second day that may be suitable for a sprint with Marie-Morgane in this role, and a mountain stage with a nice map with Megan Armitage who showed a good physical condition in Belgium, and who will find here a terrain more suitable for her, with more mountains, with a summit finish. This race will also mark the comeback of Clara Emond who also climbs very well and who will be evaluated on this occasion. Maaike can also be an interesting asset for the team in this difficult profile. We will try to aim for the stages, but also to get a good general classification”.