How do you define a champion? Maurice De Muer, manager of Luis Ocaña, described it as someone who was capable of acting alone to turn around a bad situation to their advantage. Does this fit Vincenzo Nibali? He’s been down out in France this July but was the only rider willing to take big risks today and earned the stage win.
La polémique. Yesterday’s news from L’Equipe.fr that Pierre Rolland should not have started the final stage of the Dauphiné has caused an obvious fuss for French cycling featuring a big name, being weeks from the Tour de France and, like it or not, bringing the suspicion of dopage.
The first thing to note is that this is not an anti-doping measure. Instead it is for health reasons and if Rolland is not enjoying the headlines the silver lining is that he’s now able to rest and recover from a potential health scare. But what is this test and what happened with Rolland during the Dauphiné?
Aged 24, Pierre Rolland won the Tour de France stage on Alpe d’Huez today and took the White Jersey. Is he the next big thing in French cycling? No, Pierre Rolland was the next big thing three years ago.
It happened in 2008 when he was a second year pro on the Crédit Agricole team and took the mountains jersey in the Dauphiné stage race in June, aged just 21. Don’t take my word for it, back then cyclingnews.com asked aloud: is Pierre Rolland France’s next big thing?