Team Europcar and Colnago ready for more Tour de France success

Team Europcar and Colnago enjoyed a fan­tas­tic sec­ond week at the Tour de France and are hop­ing for even for even more suc­cess before Le Tour ends in Paris on July 22.

The Team Europcar green jer­seys and strik­ing black and white Colnago Team Editions bikes were present in almost every break­away attempt in the first week with­out land­ing the suc­cess they deserved. Their luck changed on stage 10 when team leader Thomas Voeckler lead by exam­ple with a panache-packed vic­tory on the hilly road to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. Voeckler’s Tour was ham­pered by a pre-race knee injury but he fought on and raced with his trade­mark aggres­sion and deter­mi­na­tion to win.

The day after Pierre Rolland struck again for Team Europcar and Colnago, win­ning the moun­tain stage to La Toussuire. The tal­ented young Frenchman crashed while in the break­away of the stage but fought back to win alone. It was a rare but immensely sat­is­fy­ing series of back-to-back stage vic­to­ries. There were other plac­ings too, with Voeckler also fin­ish­ing third on stage 15 and Cyril Gautier fin­ish­ing fourth on stage 12.

Voeckler won on his trusted Colnago C59 Team Edition bike, while Rolland used his pre­ferred mono­coque Colnago M10 S. Colnago is unique in being able to offer the two dif­fer­ently con­structed but top of the range bikes.

Moral in Team Europcar is rightly upbeat. It’s been yet another suc­cess­ful Tour de France.

“What a dif­fer­ence a week makes. Things are a lot dif­fer­ent after two fan­tas­tic stage wins,” Voeckler pointed out dur­ing the sec­ond rest day in Pau.

The Tour de France heads into the Pyrenees for two test­ing stages before turn­ing north towards Paris. Pierre Rolland is hop­ing to move up from ninth over­all and may even try to take the climber’s polka-dot jersey.

“Both Pyrenean stages are stun­ning. The Tourmalet is a leg­endary climb that inspires every rider, while the day after (stage 17) ends with a sum­mit fin­ish. We’re going to have to fight all the way but I’m lucky to have a strong team to sup­port me,” Rolland said.

“It’d be nice to take the climber’s jer­sey but I came to the Tour de France to win a stage and do well over­all. I’m ninth now and don’t want to have any regrets when I get to Paris. Of course if there’s a chance to take the polka-dot jer­sey, I’ll go for it because it’s a pres­ti­gious jersey.”