Antoine Duchesne had a disappointing first year on the WorldTour with Europcar in 2014 because of injuries and illness. This season, the young Canadian is hoping to turn his luck around as he heads into Paris-Nice from March 8-15 in France and the Spring Classics.
“I’m ready for Paris-Nice,” Duchesne told Cyclingnews. “I’m healthy at the moment. Even with a tough early season I feel pretty strong. That’s why I was selected to race Paris-Nice. It will be my first big stage race since I’ve been on this team.”
The Quebec-born rider, who now bases himself in southern France with fellow Canadian Hugo Houle from the Ag2r-La Mondiale team, got his start with Europcar after a series of promising results as an under-23 rider, including back-to-back national road titles, second place in a stage at the Tour de Beauce and fifth in a stage at the Tour of Alberta.
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Europcar offered him a two-year deal (2014 and 2015) that aligned perfectly with the French team’s upgrade to the WorldTour last year, giving him a dream position on a team that would compete in all of the top races in the world. A series of injuries, however, kept him from starting the bigger stage races.
Not knowing exactly what his strengths were, Europcar added Duchesne to the Spring Classics campaign last year. “I was new to the team and they didn’t really know what I was capable of, so I only did Mallorca and Tour of Langkawi in the early season, and then I jumped into the Classics. Since I was riding the cobbles well, I did the whole season through Paris-Roubaix,” he said.
His spring season ended in injury when he hit a street pole before the Arenberg sector of Paris-Roubaix, injuring his thigh and hip, which sidelined him from racing for almost a month. Recovered and back on the bike in May, Europcar slotted him in for the Critérium du Dauphiné, his first chance at a WorldTour stage race, but as the race grew closer they replaced him with Romain Sicard instead.
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