12 years since France last scored a medal in the men's World Championship road race, a squad of mostly punchy riders led by Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) will look to turn things around this week in Bergen, Norway.
Alaphilippe, however, is not the only potential contender on a roster with multiple cards to play. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) gives the squad a viable second option. The pair of Worlds top 10s on his career palmares gives him the best Worlds results of anyone on team, seven of whom are under the age of 30.
Gallopin, who delivered top 10s in the GPs Québec and Montréal during his pre-Worlds build-up, acknowledges that several big names will shine more brightly as pre-race favourites in Norway than anyone on his squad. He's not worried.
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"We are outsiders, that's for sure," he told Cyclingnews in Quebec City. "The big favourites are the sprinters who can go really well in the climb. Sagan, Matthews, Van Avermaet, even Kristoff or Boasson Hagen. So I don't think we are big favourites but that's what's nice about cycling – it's not always the favourites that win the race."
With the likes of Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard staying home, the French team will have no choice but to ride an aggressive race if they want a chance at winning.
"It's the World Championships, anything can happen. Sure, it's a long time that we haven't gotten a medal but we're going to try like every year. We've now been in the top 10 a couple of years in a row so that means we are close," Gallopin said.
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