The 2010 Saur-Sojasun team(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jimmy Casper(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jerome Coppel(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Cedric Coutouly(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Anthony Delaplace(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jimmy Engoulvent(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jeremie Galland(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jonathan Hivert(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Fabrice Jeandesboz(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Sebastien Joly(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Cyril Lemoine(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Guillaume Levarlet(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Laurent Mangel(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Jean-Marc Marino(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Ronny Martias(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Romain Matheou(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Stephane Poulhies(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Julien Simon(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Yannick Talabardon(Image credit: AFP Photo)
French manager of the Saur-Sojasun cycling team, Stephane Heulot(Image credit: AFP Photo)
The Saur Sojasun Gitane TT bike.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Teh team's sleek new Gitane road bike.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Jerome Coppel gives a wave.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Guillame Levarlet greets the crowd.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
The 2010 Saur Sojasun team lines up.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Jimmy Casper, Sebastian Joly and Jonathan Hivert(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Stephane Heulot gets a gift.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Jimmy Engoulvent shows off the team's new equipment.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
The French Saur-Sojasun team presented its 2010 line-up in Paris on Tuesday, choosing the Eiffel Tower as the site for its first step into the sport's second tier.
Manager Stephane Heulot voiced the all-French team's goal: to become players in the big races, and the man to lead that charge is Jimmy Casper.
For stage races, he will look to Jonathan Hivert, Jerome Coppel and Sebastien Joly (three new recruits), while sprinter Jimmy Casper will lead the team for stage wins and in one-day races. Casper was the winner of the Coupe de France series and was the third-ranked rider in the UCI's European Tour last year, having won 10 races over the course of the season.
With a sprint train bolstered by Cyril Lemoine, Stéphane Poulhiès and Rony Martias who will add reinforcements for Casper's main lead-out man, Jimmy Engoulvent, Heulot thinks that Casper, who at 31 has had 11 seasons in the sport's top tier, can take on the biggest sprinters in the ProTour.
Heulot aspires to gain selection in the Tour de France now that the team has been granted a Professional Continental license, up from the third tier last year. In order to competed against former ProTour teams Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis, Heulot knows the team must make its mark in the early season to gain the attention of the Tour organisers.
The team will take on the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman in February to dial in the train.
2010 Saur-Sojasun team
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Cyril Bessy Jimmy Casper Jérôme Coppel Cédric Coutouly Anthony Delaplace Jimmy Engoulvent Jérémie Galland Jonathan Hivert Fabrice Jeandesboz Sébastien Joly Cyril Lemoine Guillaume Levarlet Laurent Mangel Jean-Marc Marino Rony Martias Romain Mathéou Stéphane Poulhiès Julien Simon Yannick Talabardon
General Manager: Stéphane Heulot
Directeurs sportifs: Nicolas Guillé, Lylian Lebreton.
