Benoît Cosnefroy
"There's always so much excitement in the run-up to these races".
"Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the hardest of the Ardennes races, both physically and in terms of altitude difference. It's where the climbs are the longest and where the climbers have the most fun. I'm arriving with the idea of competing with riders , who are the most at ease in the mountains, and there will be some newcomers in the team with Aurélien (Paret-Peintre), who has just returned from a high-altitude training camp, Felix (Gall) and Clément (Berthet), who rode well during the Franc-Comtois triptych. We're going to be ambitious for this race, which is also a Monument. It's the fourth of the season and there's always so much excitement as these races approach. We're in good shape and the team is solid, so I think I've got my card if I try to get through all the difficulties and pack a punch in the finish."
The news
reconnaissance of the final stage of Liège-Bastogne-Liège
This Thursday morning, the riders team reconnoitred the last 74 kilometers of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, starting on the côte de la Haute-Levée. It's an atypical race, with narrow roads and difficult climbs, notably the final climb of the Roche-aux-Faucons, where the decision is often made," stresses sports director Julien Jurdie. So it's important for the riders to get their bearings, whether they already know the race or are about to discover it like Felix Gall and Nicolas Prodhomme, and to visualize the difficulties."
4
The number
The number of top 10 finishes by the DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE Team in the Ardennes classics so far this season: Benoît Cosnefroy won the Flèche Brabançonne and finished fourth in La Flèche Wallonne, Paul Lapeira finished fifth in the Amstel Gold Race and Dorian Godon eighth in La Flèche Wallonne.
