Second Olympics for French rider who will compete in both road race and time trial
Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) has declared himself happy to have made the five-man French team for the London Olympic Games, which will begin less than a week after the end of the Tour de France. As the newly re-crowned national time trial champion, Chavanel will be representing France in both the road race on July 28th, and the race against the clock on August 1st.
“I am happy with the selection,” said Chavanel. “I am very motivated. It is always important to defend the colours of my country in the most important sporting event in the world. The course of the time trial is more or less good for me. I think I can do a good race. Even on the road, there are only three riders on the French team for the road, which makes it difficult to control, but I like this kind of race.”
Along with Chavanel, Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat), Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan) and Mickaël Bourgain (AVC Aix-en-Provence) have been named in the road team. Bourgain, a track sprinter, is included in the list so that he will be able to compete in the Keirin.
This will be the second appearance at the Olympic Games for Chavanel; he also participated in the 2004 Athens Games, where he was unfortunately a member of around half the peloton that didn’t finish the race, which was won by Italian Paolo Bettini.
“I am happy and concentrated,” said Chavanel, who currently lies third in the Tour, just seven seconds shy of the yellow jersey. “I will have to maintain my concentration for two weeks more after the Tour, but it is not a problem. I am really motivated for this race.”
So far this season Chavanel has performed well in time trials, winning the stage of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde – on his way to overall victory – and finishing fifth in the long stage against the clock in last month’s Critérium du Dauphiné. He will be up against it however, to deny the likes of his German Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammate, the world champion Tony Martin, or Swiss Beijing Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) from taking gold in London.