Frenchmen add international flavour to American squad
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Julien Antomarchi (Velo-Club La Pomme Marseille) wins the stage(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Julien El Fares (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
The Team Type 1 - Sanofi squad will bring in two Frenchmen for the team in 2012, adding Julien El Fares from Cofidis and Julien Antomarchi of the La Pomme Marseille squad, the team confirmed to Cyclingnews.
Sponsor Sanofi, headquartered in Paris, was the impetus behind adding the French riders.
El Fares, 26, has been with the Cofidis squad since he was brought in as a trainee in 2006 and then signed to a professional contract for the following seasons.
An aggressive rider, El Fares is a frequent presence in breakaways and packs a formidable sprint from a small group. He won the first stage of the 2009 Tirreno-Adriatico from a breakaway and won the overall points classification, and also claimed the overall victory in the Tour de Wallonie that year after getting into a winning escape on the penultimate stage.
Antomarchi, 27, has raced mainly in the elite amateur ranks, having had a stint as a trainee with Skil-Shimano in 2009, but his VC La Pomme Marseille team went Continental this year.
Earlier in the month, Antomarchi denied that he had signed a contract with Team Type 1 to Velochrono.fr, stating that he was under contract with his current squad through 2012.
Antomarchi, one of the strongest riders on the VC La Pomme Marseille team, bested Thomas Voeckler to win a stage of the Tour du Haut Var in February and took second overall.
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
