The first race of the French road race season, La Marseillaise, was won by a French rider who listens to the name of Jérémy Roy and who's part of the FDJ team.

Jérémy gently accepted my request to regularly share his road diary with you here on www.velowire.com. His view on cycling news, his performances on past races and his programme for the upcoming races! Today you'll find the first edition of Catching up with Jérémy Roy!

In this first edition he of course talks about what was the reason behind his success in the Marseillaise but he also gives his view on the currently ongoing debate on two-way race radio, on the recent doping cases which continue to give the sport of cycling a negative image and finally his programme for the upcoming two months!

His victory in the Marseillaise

After his victory early this year, this first edition could of course not start otherwise than with a question about the reasons for this success. In the Carrément vélo talkshow on 31 January 2011 (the day after Jérémy's victory) there was a discussion about his winter preparation (participating in cyclo cross races) which formed the base for this success and the day before his victory, Jérémy published a photo on Twitter of the descent of the Col de l'Ange where he would be again the next day. Indeed, he went for a discovery ride of the race route the day before the race.

Jérémy explains:

Yes, I indeed did a discovery ride the day before the Marseillaise, alone, of the final part of the race since we were staying in a hotel at about 30 kilometers from the finish. The other riders prefered to stay on their Hometrainer due to the weather conditions! I found a moment where it stopped raining (at least when I left) and when I was in the right breakaway (the next day) I could indeed think about the perfect place where I could attack to surprise Sylvain Georges and extend the gap on him in a very technical descent.

I knew I was in good shape because I was able to get better training conditions this winter while this wasn't the case in previous years (study, surgery on my iliac artery in December 2009, bad weather) and my power test references showed good values. The cyclocross races allowed me to build up a good rhythm for a 1h period. Even though I don't do the full season, I participated in 6 races of which 4 were between the end of December and mid January. I've always been a fan of this discipline which combines technique and power. Of course my winter preparation is not only based on those races, far from that!
I have a regular trainer at FDJ: Jacques Decrion, with whom I often discuss my training. I don't simply receive a training plan to follow, we talk about what we think of it, he gives me hints and tips and gives me exercices to do and which I can adapt to the conditions ... He knows I like the mountain bike and cyclocross in addition to road racing and that I don't like the home-trainer. We thus set up a trainings programme which is adapted to my wishes and to what I like. Indeed, training without having the will to do it is completely useless. For a training to be useful, you have to know why you're doing it and what's your goal when doing this or that exercice and you must have the will to do it.

That's why I focused more on quality instead of quantity this year, getting the kilometers done mainly during the collective training camps.

Getting back to the Marseillaise, my long break away was not planned because during the briefing the directeur sportif agreed on letting me wait until the final part of the race but I have a natural will to attack I seized the opportunity I got and that turned out to be the break away of the day!! Only when I saw that the gap was up to 8 minutes I thought that the break away could continue to the finish since the final part of the race didn't allow a peloton to get organised (3 small climbs and 3 technical descents; and the wind was in the right direction in the last 40 kms!).

Two-way race radio and doping

The ban of two-way race radio on all races except for those which are part of the UCI WorldTour is generally disagreed upon by riders and directeurs sportifs. Riders and teams have been on strike during the first part of the Challenge Ciclista à Mallorca, the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca, organised by the AIGCP which represents some teams. Some riders also specifically gave their idea on this topic, like for example Craig Lewis in a blog entry on the Versus web site.

More recently, the doping topic was back in the spotlights (in mass media) of the cycling world with Riccardo Riccò (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)'s auto-transfusion and Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) getting cleaned of all charges yesterday.

Jérémy gives his view on these two news items and you'll see that his ideas are not necessarily the same as those of some other who express their ideas without any further arguments:

Concerning the two-way radio, I don't really understand why the teams and the riders wake up only now. The rule was known since the end of 2009 with a ban of two-way race radio in 2010 for class 2 races, in 2011 for HC and class 1 and in 2012 for the ProTour (UCI WorldTour) races. Personally I'm against the use of two-way race radio, so I like this rule. The rider gets more responsibility, the group as a whole and the team work get more important and it's no longer a radio guided thingy. That doesn't mean that their won't be any further races which will be controlled by the sprinters teams! We know how to get organised, use our brains and ride without race radios!
Concerning the strikes, I think it's a pity for the organisor of the race who becomes the victim. It's another bad thing for the image of the cycling sport. Like in politics, the UCI has the power to decide alone about new rules, someone has to be the boss. Indeed, sometimes I think the groups representing the cycling world (riders, teams, organisations) should be consulted to set up a dialogue.

Concerning the current doping cases, I prefer not to add too much to it. I follow these things from quite a distance, I don't know all the details apart from what we can read in the newspapers, so I would say Wait and See. I'd prefer talking about cycling, real cycling!! and that the media stop associating doping and cycling. As professional cyclists we are submitted to a localisation system 24/24 7/7 in order to be traceable for a possible unannounced doping check (the so called where abouts system), such a system exists in no other sport. At the finish of a race, a chaperon follows us up to the doping check; and of course you can only find doping cases when you're looking for them. Unfortunately there will always be some riders who think they can't do without it but I think the cycling sport is getting clean step by step. I agree with McQuaid on longer suspensions.

The upcoming races and Jérémy's ambitions for 2011

The last question I asked to Jérémy for this first catch up with .. was of course about the races in which he will participate early this season and his ambitions for this year:

My next races are the Tour du Haut Var, les Boucles Sud Ardèche, Paris-Nice, Cholet Pays de Loire and the Critérium International.

Just like every year and probably just like any rider I would like to win some races. If I can show I stepped up to a new level in 2011 I might be able to ask to be a protected rider in some races, if not I'll be there riding for a leader and I could try to seize a chance as I did in the Marseillaise.

Your questions to Jérémy Roy

Would you like to know how Jérémy gets ready for his next race? The text he would like to see on a banner created by his fans? Or his view on any topic in the world of cycling? Don't wait any longer and send me your questions to paris@thover.com. You might find your question ... and his answer in the next edition of Catching up with Jérémy Roy.

In case you didn't know, Jérémy Roy also has an official website at www.jeremyroy.fr!

I would like to once more thank Jérémy for allowing me to set up this new blog section and for taking the time to write up this article!

We'll probably see each other in Paris-Nice, Cholet Pays de Loire and maybe in the Critérium International

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Catching up with Jérémy Roy

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