What motivated your open letter to the president of the French Cycling Federation Michel Callot?
The concomitance of his interview in Ouest-France, where he defends his record, and the cessation of several amateur teams in Brittany (Morbihan Adris GOA, Cre’Actuel-Marie-Morin-U22, Plouay Cycling Team). We were opponents on the weekend, but we are in the same boat. Michel Callot is campaigning for his re-election, but at no time does he mention the financial difficulties of these groups. And he still hasn’t reacted.
Why can’t these cycling teams mobilize more private money, like in football for example?
Sport is a very competitive sector and cycling has several disadvantages: it is not physically established in a territory, like a stadium or a hall, and it does not generate direct income, since the races take place on the public space. The problem does not concern professional teams like Arkéa-B & B Hôtels, but amateur teams. We are reaching the end of a system that will have to evolve.
However, you denounce the competition with the Continental teams, which become reserves of the professional teams and recruit the best prospects…
The Conti reserves would not be a problem if we could still rely on a larger pool of young people. There were four to five times more amateur runners in my time, in the 1990s. And even then, we are far from being the most to be pitied in the Great West. But the world has changed and parents no longer want to send their children onto roads open to traffic where they risk their safety.
What do you recommend?
In terms of safety, we could develop signposted training circuits on secondary roads, with one-way traffic for cars, and favor closed circuit races rather than online. We could pool the human, material and financial resources of the clubs during the week, which does not prevent them from being adversaries at the weekend. We must put an end to parochial wars.
Is this what you are trying to do with the academy that you are developing in parallel for juniors?
Initially, “La Crêpe” was an association responsible for finding money to support the training of our partner clubs, UC Auray then Véloce Vannetais. When we moved to club status, three years ago, the idea was to finance the salaries of our coaches by making them available during the week to juniors from other clubs (Le Véloce and OC Locminé). The positions are 60% financed by our Savoir Rouler services to the school public and those to clubs. The remaining 40% comes half from subsidies, directed towards the academy, and from private partnerships for our team’s competitions.
