Rémi Cavagna is not part of the selection for the 111th Tour de France which the Movistar team unveiled this Monday morning. The Clermontois pays for a failed first part of the season and the loss of his status as the best French rider.
The news came like a hammer this Monday morning. The Spanish world tour team Movistar will set off on the 111th Tour de France, Saturday in Florence, without Rémi Cavagna, not included in its selection of 8 riders.
As at the start of the month, for the Critérium du Dauphiné which spent several days in Auvergne, the 28-year-old from Clermont was once again excluded by his training.
Movistar finally preferred to line up in Florence the Spaniards Oier Lazkano, Javier Romo, as well as the Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who are the last three to have obtained their ticket to Tuscany.
“A somewhat complicated season so far”
Choices which are the consequence of “a somewhat complicated season so far”, in the Auvergne’s own words, prey to integration problems in his new team and not at his usual level since his beginnings , in February, with the Movistar Team.
Rémi Cavagna loses his crown as French champion in Normandy
The former double French time trial champion had nevertheless obtained assurance from his new staff, by committing at the end of last season with Movistar, to be at the start of the next Tour de France.
The Clermontois had notably favored the proposal of the Spanish team, after seven seasons at the Quick-Step with Julian Alaphilippe, because it offered him guarantees regarding the choice of his program and more freedoms in racing.
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This promise was finally called into question by declining performances from the man who had just signed, last year, his best season among the pros, with 5 victories, including the overall in the Tour of Slovakia. Above all, results far below his potential in his favorite field, which is the time trial.
The Puydômois is no longer the best French roller, which resulted last Thursday in Normandy in the loss of his title of French champion in the specialty. What delighted him is his great rival Bruno Armirail, who will be at the start of the Tour on Saturday with the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
And now ? A course at altitude?
Rémi Cavagna deprived of the Tour de France after having been in the Dauphiné?
Thursday, it was a new disappointment for Rémi Cavagna, twice titled in the national event against the clock (in 2020 and 2023), but only 4th in Saint-Martin-de-Landelles. Where he also failed on Sunday to reverse the trend in the road race, which he also abandoned 40 kilometers from the finish.
With the Tour no longer on his program, Rémi Cavagna did not know in the middle of last week what would be offered to him instead. “Maybe an altitude training course,” he mentioned.
This would allow him to refocus on new objectives and not jeopardize the second part of the season either. During which, unfortunately, he will also have to give up participation in the Paris Olympic Games.
The Movistar selection for the Tour
Enric Mas (ESP, 29 ans), Oier Lazkano (ESP, 24 ans), Nelson Oliveira (POR, 35 ans), Davide Formolo (ITA, 31 ans), Alex Aranburu (ESP, 28 ans), Fernando Gaviria (COL, 29 ans), Javier Romo (ESP, 25 ans), Gregor Mühlberger (AUT, 30 ans).
Often confined to the role of replacement for the Tour de France in the Belgian team led by Patrick Lefevere, the Clermontois only participated twice: the year of the Covid crisis, in September 2020 and last summer.Raphaël Rochette
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