French sprinter to target stage victories before the Rio Olympics
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Bryan Coquard was another rider at Fleche Wallonne for recon purposes(Image credit: Sadhbh O'Shea)
France's Bryan Coquard celebrates with his gold medal during the ceremony of the Men's Elimination Race at the Track Elite European Championships
Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in the leader's yellow jersey(Image credit: ASO)
Bryan Coquard (Europcar)(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Bryan Coquard (Europcar)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Bryan Coquard (Team Europcar) wins the opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk
Bryan Coquard has focused on the track in recent weeks, winning the European title in the Elimination event and finishing third in the Madison. However his attention quickly returned to the road and the 2016 season at the presentation of the 2016 Tour de France route in Paris.
Next year's race will be Coquard’s third Tour de France and he has come close to winning stages on both occasions, including a second place behind Andre Greipel in the final sprint on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
His eyes were firmly on the first week of the 2016 race, with the possibility of wearing the yellow jersey on the opening day and a stage finish in his home region of Pays de la Loire on stage 3 to Angers.
"It is a dream," Coquard told Cyclingnews on the possibility of taking his first Tour de France win.
For Coquard, there is also the Olympic Games in Rio, where he may compete on the track. However, he tells Cyclingnews that it is the Tour de France and a stage win that comes first.
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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
