Bryan Coquard has a nervous wait on his hands as he faces the prospect of missing out on the Tour de France for a second year in succession. According to French sports newspaper L'Equipe, the wildcards for the Tour will be decided in a month's time and, with a surfeit of eligible candidates, Coquard's new Vital Concept team look most likely to miss out.
Each year the ASO hands out four wildcard invitations for second division teams, and in 2018 there are seemingly six in the running: Cofidis, Direct Energie, Fortuneo-Oscaro, Delko-Marseille Provence KTM, Vital Concept, and Wanty-Groupe Gobert (the only non-French outfit).
Cofidis and Direct Energie have longstanding relationships with the Tour and are pretty much shoe-ins for 2018 - with star riders in Nacer Bouhanni and Lilian Calmejane respectively - as are Fortuneo-Oscaro, who have raced the past four editions and now have the 2017 king of the mountains, Warren Barguil.
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The fourth slot looks less certain. It is unlikely to go to Delko, leaving a scrap between the Belgian Wanty-Groupe Gobert and newcomers Vital Concept. Logic may dictate that the ASO would lean towards Vital Concept, a thoroughly French team created by former pro Jerome Pineau and spearheaded by a talent like Coquard.
However, Wanty stood out on their debut in 2017, animating breakaways and finishing 14th in the teams classification. The French connection is there also, with sponsors from Wallonia - the French-speaking region of Belgium - and a base near the border, while their leader is the promising Frenchman Guillaume Martin, who finished third on the stage to Station des Rousses this year and fifth in the young rider classification.
"We deserve our place," said team manager Jean-Francois Boulart, according to L'Equipe. "[Race director] Christian Prudhomme has always said that he wouldn't take a team that had just been created - that they must first prove themselves. I hope that's the case for 2018, even if, for him, it's not an easy decision."
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