In a khaki tracksuit, under the new jersey of the FDJ-Suez team or that of the Breton selection, colorful headband, Marie Le Net takes her infectious smile and her joie de vivre to the heart of the Central Brittany velodrome track. . The young woman from Bréhand (22), just half an hour from the indoor ring, does not quibble about her happiness at playing in front of her family (around twenty people this Saturday). “When I knew that the French track championships were taking place in Loudéac, I couldn’t not take part in them. Here, I feel like I’m at home, it’s simple, I say hello to everyone! I admit that it’s too weird,” confides the woman who, on Friday, propelled the Breton selection to the team pursuit title before going for the silver medal in the points race.
The road, nothing but the road
Associated with the Loir-Et-Chérien Clémence Chéreau, Saturday, during the American event where she put on a show and obtained silver, the one who competed in her second Olympic Games last summer (5th in pursuit by teams) will be competing in the omnium this Sunday afternoon. Her track activity will end there in 2025. “This year, it will be all about the road,” confirms the FDJ-Suez professional who, starting next Friday, will take off for Australia where she will continue the Tour Down Under (17-19 January) and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (February 1).
The rest of his calendar is currently dotted, as are his objectives. “At this stage of the year, I don’t really want to get too far ahead of myself on that. I just want to have a full season, without worrying,” adds Marie Le Net (24 years old) who, in a way, will not escape the pressure. This is not denied by Stephen Delcourt, the general manager of FDJ-Suez.
“She owes us”
“For her, it’s a pivotal season. She has had the freedom to express herself on her Olympic project for a year and a half, she is now indebted to us. Can it return to its peak on the road, knowing that the gap is very large between the 2022 level and that of 2025? Can she find her place in a squad as solid as ours? She’s the one who has the answers. Individually and collectively, she must in any case bring more to the bike,” assures the big boss of a team from Poitou which, with the arrivals of the Dutch star Demi Vollering, the French champion Juliette Labous and even the Swiss Elise Chabbey, perhaps built the strongest team on the planet during the offseason.
-“Potentially, Marie has all the physical and technical qualities to find her place within such a collective. And then, she is able to roll, to rub, to take a leader, to put her back. I’m not just worried about her,” assures Samuel Monnerais, the coach of the French track team.
A “Le Net shift” in Cadoudal?
Louis Pijourlet, too, is not particularly worried about the future of Marie Le Net. The one who has shared the life of the Breton champion for several years had fun, on Saturday, with their very first training outing in the mountains. “It was in the Col de la Croix-de-Fer. I had played the gentleman by carrying her backpack, I had regretted it: I had difficulty following her,” smiled the new French individual pursuit champion who, in the excited atmosphere of Loudéac, already imagined a “Le Net turn” taking shape, in July, on the climb to Cadoudal where the finish of the first stage of the next Tour de France Femmes will be judged.
Morocco
