The message is to fast forward a terrible year as a WorldTour team. Arkéa – B&B Hotels has seen its manager depart with Warren Barguil and hopes to fill that big role with the classic acquisition of Florian Sénéchal. And the team dreams of discovering the new cross country super talent.
That’s how it was last year
In his first year in the WorldTour, Arkéa-Samsic made a bad impression.
Nacer Bouhanni, plagued by injuries, was no longer the same as before. And the other roosters in the team, Barguil and Hofstetter, also disappointed at WorldTour level.
A brilliant move in early August was the recruitment of sprint bomb Arnaud Démare, who was at loggerheads with the riders and management of Groupama-FDJ.
Démare thanked his new employer in early October with bouquets of flowers at the Tour of Vendée and Paris-Bourges.
With his collection of points, Démare also ensured that Astana, and not Arkéa, was the worst student of the 2023 WorldTour class.
Sénéchal for the classics, Démare and Vauquelin at the Tour
Win a Tour stage and move out of the danger zone in the team rankings. This is the dual objective of Arkéa-B&B Hotels in 2024.
To collect points, the Breton team has attracted potential top points such as Clément Venturini and the Italian Vincenzo Albanese, who achieved 32 top 10 finishes at Eolo-Kometa last season.
With Florian Sénéchal, Arkéa has also attracted a real leader for the Flemish classics. The Frenchman, who speaks some West Flemish, will be missed by The Wolfpack.
To win a stage of the Tour, the Bretons can no longer rely on Warren Barguil. He has returned to his first love: DSM.
All balls are then placed on Arnaud Démare. Its sprint train has already been expanded during the market with 2 first class carriages: Miles Scotson (which Démare knows from Groupama) and Sénéchal.
At La Grande Boucle we are also looking forward to the Tour debut of all-rounder Kevin Vauquelin, who had a whirlwind start to the season last year but then remained a bit stagnant.
Florian Sénéchal was the French champion 2 years ago.
Discovering the new Alaphilippe in cross country
It is surprising that Arkéa-B&B Hotels also wants to focus more and more on cross-country skiing.
Newcomer Clément Venturini, a five-time French cyclocross champion, was told during contract negotiations that he would have to ride more in the winter. Does the French championship in Brittany have anything to do with it?
The Breton team was also looking for the services of a promising Belgian cyclocross racer, but he said no.
Arkéa was recently associated with Steve Chainel’s cyclocross team. The secret dream: to discover among all the young cyclocross talents the new Alaphilippe, who began his career right on the field.
Newcomer Venturini has to spend more time with his new employer.
- Biggest loss: With Warren Barguil, the team saw the departure of its leader and supporter of the Breton fans. A certainty on many points, with the first 10 places in the climbing classics and (distant) places of honor in the stage races. Who will fill those big shoes?
- Striking: until 2022 B&B Hotels was still the main sponsor of a French competitor of Arkéa. You know, the team led by Jens Debusschere and team chief Jérome Pineau, who found no further sponsors and pulled the plug on the project in December 2022. Now B&B Hotels is back on board as a co-sponsor of Arkéa.
- revelation: Ewen Costiou will soon win awards this season, according to team manager Emmanuel Hubert. Last season, the 21-year-old from Breton had already achieved good results as a new professional with a 2nd place at Paris-Camembert and a 9th place at the GP de Wallonie.
Newcomers Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma Laurens Huys Intermarché-Circus-Wanty Moles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ Florian Sénéchal Soudal-QuickStep Clément Venturini (Fra) AG2R Vertrekkers Warren Barguil (Fra) Team DSM-firmenich PostNL Maxime Bouet (woman) stops Nacer Bouhanni (woman) stops Nicolas Edet (woman) ? Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel-Premier Tech Laurent Pichon (Fra) stops Andrii Ponomar (Oek) Corratec-Selle Italia Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
2024-01-13 09:08:20
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