Team Europcar still missing some important invitations, including Grand Tours
Team Europcar is still waiting to receive invitations for the coming season. Team Manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau was disappointed as his squad has not been invited to the major events towards the start of the next year.
The French team is hopeful to make it through to the classics in Belgium, although it was denied an entry at the Tour of Qatar, Oman and the Tour of Langkawi.
Jean told French Eurosport, “We are still waiting for the answers to the invitations we have applied for. It would be hard to obtain invitations even if we were on ProTour level. We received a refusal for the Tour of Oman... It was a disappointment as we
needed to do this race".
The team has operated under different names in the past, Bonjour (2000-02), Brioches La Boulangere (2003-04), Bouygues Telecom (2005-2008), Bbox Bouygues Telecom (2009-10) and operates by the name of Europcar since 2011.
Team Europcar was founded in 2000, it secured a number of victories to its credit throughout its career.
It managed to secure the Overall victory at the GP du Midi Libre 2000 after Didier Rous won the event for the team.
Moreover, the squad bagged two stage victories at the Tour de France 2009, stage 5 by Thomas Voeckler and stage 9 win by Pierrick Fedrigo.
Considering its remarkable performance at the French Grand Tour, Bernaudeau’s team was invited to the 2010 edition of the race.
Thomas Voeckler repeated his performance by winning the stage 15, followed by the Mountains classifications victory by Anthony Charteau during Tour de France 2010.
Pierre Rolland won the stage 19 and the young rider’s classification during the Tour de France 2011.
The French team is eyeing the Grand Tours for the coming season. Bernaudeau briefed about his 2012 plans, "We will try to do a really good Vuelta. The Flandrian and Ardennes Classics could be a goal. Thomas Voeckler, Pierre Rolland and Christophe Kern -
who already won the 2002 U23 Liège-Bastonne-Liège - like them a lot".
Whether Europcar’s squad will be invited to the Grand Tours or not, only time will tell. However, the lack of invitations for the coming season is certainly creating worries amongst the team members.
Tags: