After two exciting one day races in Belgium, junior peleton now heads to Vendée region in France for another one day race from uci calendar, 22nd La Bernaudeau Junior 2015.
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The route is slightly different then last year. Race will start in La Châtaigneraie and finish in Le Poiré sur Vie, city that hosted the start of previous edition. The race is now 130km long and will offer similar difficulties to the last year with numerous short but usually steep climbs plus up and down circuit in the last 30 k's. Last year, the first fifty kilometers were pretty flat but it has changed for 2015 edition. After 26km we will have the first mountain already: Côte du Fuiteau (500m long, avg 13%). For the next 35 kilometers, up untill Côte du Moulin des Bois, route never gets flat. Later we will have around 30 kilometers of easier terrain before the 7.2km circuit repeated six times. The circuit is also extremely hard as there are basically no flat parts. It's up and down right from the start with only flat part in the last kilometer of every lap.
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| Race map and profile (http://bernaudeaujunior.free.fr) |
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| Final circuit (photo: bernaudeaujunior.free.fr) |
Last year, Theo Nicolas won two men sprint against Cyril Bordes. Martin Palm from Belgium came third. Peleton was shattered on the final circuit. There were small groups coming to the finish or just single riders. We can expect similar scenario for this year.
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| Theo Nicolas winning 2014 edition (photo: creps-idf.fr) |
Favorities
As the main contender we should consider last year's winner. Theo Nicolas is coming back to Vendée to defend his title. He showed great form last week by winning Le Trophée Louison-Bobet. His team, Argenteuil Val Seine 95 brings another strong contender, Guillaume Millasseau who was eighth last year and recently finished fourth in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Avia W Cup Team will try to score another big win. They are bringing GP André Noyelle winner, Pascal Eenkhoorn together with other strong contenders like Bjorg Lambrecht or Thomas Vereecken. Other strong favorite could be Mathieu Burgardeau, fourth in Le Trophée Louison-Bobet last week, who will ride as a part of Sélection de Vendée. Also, two riders who finished first and second in Trophée de la Ville de Châtellerault last Sunday will take part: Jasper de Plus from Tielse Renners Club and Maxence Bonjean from Pôle Cyclisme Saint Etienne Rhône Alpes. Once again we can expect strong ride from Zannata-Lotto CT Menen riders. I would bet again on one of these two: Jonas Castrique or Pierre Goebeert. Also it worth a notice that Alberto Contador team, Flex Fundacion Alberto Contador will ride in French race. with Sergio Hernández who may be a strong contender. Other notable riders: Maxence Moncassin, Pavel Sivakov, Axel Audebrand, Mathieu Rigollot, Stuart Balfour and Maxime Gressier.
Website: http://bernaudeaujunior.free.fr/
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