Ten days before the anniversary (50 years!) of La Roche Vendée Cyclisme, the president of the Yonnais club took a few minutes to West France.
For the club's 50th anniversary, you announced that there will be a museum. What will we be able to find there?
There will be the different club jerseys – around twenty – worn throughout these 50 years. There will also be distinctive jerseys, for departmental champions and the Voeckler challenge for example. There will also be photos of past champions of the club, as well as volunteers, and press articles. We even found a poster of Félicia Ballanger, when she was an Olympic champion, which was displayed in a bus shelter.
Will champions be present?
Roland Berland, French road champion in 1972 and 1979, will be there. Lucas Menanteau, recent junior scratch world champion, too. Sarah Pope, French amateur champion, and Flavie Boulais (8 national track titles in 2019) also.
Also read. La Roche keeps Sarah Pope and makes a nice recruitment
“We have always been one step ahead”
What were the club's highlights?
In the 90s, there was great emulation. In 1995 and 1996, the club was twice crowned “best club in France”. We have found this emulation, in all disciplines, over the last 15 years. We created national men's and women's road and mountain bike teams. Today, we are close to 300 licensees (294). We are therefore the number 1 club in the region.
What are the club's plans for the near future?
At the beginning of 2025, we will expand our premises, with the support of the city. We will continue on the business path: having high-level teams who guide our young people. And be an actor in school and business events. For some time now, the federation has been turning to these extra-sporting activities, but the club has been working in schools for 20 years! We were already doing things before the program was called “knowing how to ride a bike”. We have always been one step ahead (smile).
