The third edition of the Coupe de France eCycling took place at the end of last year. Romain Malbreil, eCycling project manager within the French Cycling Federation, takes stock of this for DirectVelo. He also mentions the next French Championship which will take place on Saturday January 25 remotely and not in person as in the last two years.
DirectVelo: Why will the French eCycling Championship not take place in person this year?
Romain Malbreil: We did not find a city ready to host the event. We had quite a few discussions with localities in September, October and November, but nothing materialized. In mid-December, we decided to organize it remotely. It's a shame, it breaks the dynamic a bit. For me, it's less nice. The advantage of face-to-face is that everyone can see and meet each other. However, remotely, we open the door to more participants. In person, we were limited to 20 people, we were limited by space.
“GIVE YOURSELF TIME”
This year, the Coupe de France eCycling ended earlier in December, and not in January as in the previous edition. For what ?
Last year, we were spread out much more throughout the winter. The fifth and final round was very close to the date of the Championship. This time, we really wanted the Coupe de France to end before the end of year holidays to transmit the information, plan ahead and give ourselves time to organize the French Championship. And fortunately the last round did not take place in January as there were quite a few changes with the French Championship which is finally remote.
You still have roughly the same number of competitors…
We remain at a fairly stable figure around 160-180 people. It's the same ratio. New ones arrive and old ones don't come back. It doesn't change too much, the specialists are always present. Furthermore, unlike the previous edition, there were no technical problems, everything went well.
“ENSURE THAT EVERYONE GIVES THE BEST OF THEMSELVES”
Before, there were categories A, B, C and D based on the number of watts per kilo. This time you created different groups and there was a scratch ranking.
At the time, Zwift categories were used based on people's physical abilities and the watts they developed. We realized that people were more or less deliberately not developing more power to stay in lower categories and that was more or less distorting the race. With the FFC, we tried to think of a system to overcome this problem, to ensure that everyone gives the best of themselves and not that some slow down or slow down. That's why we had this idea of the scratch ranking with everyone. We created races based on the ranking of people. The best 50-60 were in the first group and the next 50 in the second and so on. The 1st in group 2 scored fewer points than the last in group 1.
How did the up-down system work?
The last five of group 1 went down and the first 5 of group 2 went up. Then there was a quota of roadblockers. If you finished twice between 6th and 8th places, you could claim the promotion. Once again, the goal was to encourage this desire to rise to the top and give the best of oneself. It worked quite well, the system was quite pleasant, we risk producing it. Furthermore, there were exceptions for those who had participated in the French Championships or who had had big results in the past, they could directly join group 1 even if they were not present at the start of the Coupe de France.
“THE PODIUMS WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE FRENCH ELITE ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP”
During the next French Championship, you will have categories similar to the road….
Before, whoever won the race in category B won the French trophy but was not considered a French Championship. From now on, there will be five very distinct categories: the Elite Men, the Elite Women, the U17/U19 category together, the Masters from 40 to 49 years old and those over 50 years old. We asked the FFC to add those over 50 because they are extremely loyal and this allows them to have an additional title. As with young people, the important thing is to energize, open the floodgates and allow as many people as possible to participate in order to detect talent. And why not ultimately obtain a World Champion title. Last year, none of our representatives were able to reach the final of the World Cup because none of them finished in the top 20 in the semi-final, it was a bit of a shame.
In this regard, you are going to organize a last chance race the same morning as the French Championship….
For those who have not done the Coupe de France, there will be the possibility of participating in a Mass Start on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The first 10 in each category will enter the final phases in the afternoon. We still wanted to favor those who were in the Coupe de France, but it gives a last opportunity to other competitors. In the afternoon, there will be two events, a scratch race and a points race of 30 minutes each. The 10 best in each category will compete in the evening in the final and this will elect the French Champion.
What message do you want to send to attract as many people as possible?
The podiums will take place during the French Elite Road Championship in Les Herbiers at the end of June. There will be a presentation of the five French Champions jerseys and numerous prizes will be offered to the first three in each category thanks to our partner Wahoo. It will be a nice moment, it's a good idea from the FFC to highlight the discipline. Furthermore, one week after the French eCycling Championship, the virtual podiums will be announced, there is a verification period to ensure that no one is cheating and those who have finished on the podium will be contacted.
