Tour de France Femmes - Franck Renimel: "let's try our luck"
Arkéa Pro Cycling Team’s intention is to show off and push forward in this second edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which runs from 23 to 30 July.
Franck Renimel, team manager, presents the 7 riders selected.
“Maaike Coljé’s main objective will be to help her team-mates, who will benefit from protected rider status depending on the profile of the stages. She’s capable of accompanying the women climbers for quite a long time in the mountains. She also knows how to rub, and Maaike can help place our sprinter. She has a wide range of skills. It could enable her to potentially take part in breakaways on stages where her work with the leaders may be less necessary”.
“Danielle De Francesco has shown us some great things since joining the Arkéa Pro Cycling Team. Capable of climbing well, she can really shine on medium mountain stages. Danielle’s job will be to get into the breakaways and make the most of her chances. I’m also looking forward to seeing her in the individual time trial in this Tour de France for Women, because of her great riding skills”.
“Anastasyia Kolesava is driven by the desire to do well. She’s a racer who’s always got the knife between her teeth, an adventurer. She gives it her all. She’s capable of getting into breakaways, and of shining if they go far. Her favourite terrain is hilly courses, where she can really shine”.
“Amandine Fouquenet will be the team’s road captain for this Tour de France Femmes. It’s a role in which she excels. She knows how to energise the team during the race and act as a relay for the team managers within the peloton. Her skills also include organising the team when it needs to at key moments in the race. Her other asset is her ability to project herself to the front of the race, if the progress of the race allows her to do so”.
“Marie-Morgane Le Deunff is our puncheur-sprinter profile, even if there will be strong competition in the bunch sprints. Marie-Morgane is young and is bound to learn a lot in this area. She can do well in the finishes. This will allow us to see where she stands at the highest level. There are a few stages for sprinters and puncheuses, and she’ll be our number 1 asset.”
“Anaïs Morichon’s role will be to support the riders protected by the Arkéa Pro Cycling Team. She’ll be riding for them if necessary, protecting them and moving them up in the peloton. Her mission will be above all a collective one in this Tour de France Femmes. Anaïs will be a key member of our squad in this area.”
“Megan Armitage has great climbing qualities. She’s capable of achieving great things on mountain stages, and has already demonstrated this during the season. The Tourmalet stage, at a very high level, could prove to be a good test for her to see how she measures up against the world’s best female climbers. Our aim for this Tour de France Femmes 2023 is for our riders to be aggressive, to push forward without necessarily thinking about the overall classification”.
“Arkéa Pro Cycling Team will be taking part in its second Tour de France Femmes in a row. It’s an honour for us, as we’ll be among the men’s and women’s teams taking part in the biggest stage race on the professional calendar. Women’s cycling received a major boost last year with the return of the Tour de France for women cyclists. This second edition will undoubtedly enable our structure and the women cyclists to reach a new milestone in terms of notoriety, but also on a sporting level. The Arkéa Pro Cycling Team has been part of the women’s professional scene for four seasons now, but it is still a ‘young’ team because of the training policy that has been implemented. The strategy adopted for the development of this squad is the same as for the men, i.e. a crescendo of progression towards the highest level. This second participation in the Tour de France Femmes will be a new milestone. It’s up to our riders to seize their chance, get into the breakaways and try to put in a good performance, so that the red and black colours of the Arkéa Pro Cycling Team can shine as brightly as possible”.