General Emmanuel Hubert and the sports staff of the Bretagne-Séché Environnement team have announced their selection for the Tour de France. Frédéric Brun, Armindo Fonseca and Pierre-Luc Périchon will join the six riders that had already been selected: Eduardo Sepulveda, Anthony Delaplace, Pierrick Fedrigo, Brice Feillu, Arnaud Gerard and Florian Vachon .

Frédéric Brun, 26, will start his first Tour. This season he arrived in the team from Auber 93 and has proved himself to be a valuable rider in the mountains as demonstrated with his recent 5th place in the Tour des Pays de Savoie. "I have picked up my progress after a very difficult year in 2014 due to toxoplasmosis," he said. "Last July, I was riding amateur events with Auber 93, I watched the Tour on TV and I was far from imagining that I would be there twelve months later.  " 

"Frederic is a pleasant surprise, but also proof that we know how to sign the ride riders," Hubert said. "We rely heavily on Eduardo Sepulveda for the general classification in the Tour. Frederic will be on a mission to stay with him."

Armindo Fonseca, 26, will do his second Tour de France after his debut in 2014. "My start to the season was not great and at one point I feared not being selected for the Tour," he admits. "A break in May allowed me to put everything back on track and get a fresh start. I had returned to a good level in the Tour of Luxembourg and the Route du Sud. We have a great team in July, I hope to play a role."

"Armindo has the experience of a first Tour last year so he should be more comfortable," Hubert said. "Yes, he had a bad early season and we expected something else after his victory in the Tour de Vendée last October. But in recent weeks he has shown that he has the power."

Like Brun, Pierre-Luc Périchon, 28, will take part in his first Tour de France. "I am pleased with this selection, I always dreamed about it but it is not the goal in itself. When Manu Hubert and the staff trust me, it is because they expect me to be in the centre of the event and that I can give something to the team. I want to show that I deserve the trust."

"The selection of Pierre-Luc is quite legitimate," Hubert said. "He showed a good consistency with a very good level throughout the season, in different terrains like Paris-Roubaix and the Tro-Bro Léon, the Boucles de la Mayenne, the Tour of Langkawi and the Pays de Savoie. He deserves to be at the start of the Tour."

At 24, the third debutant of this Tour de France in the team Eduardo Sepulveda will be the designated leader for the general classification. He will also start with dossard number 1 for the team.

"The highest possible rank" is the objective set by Emmanuel Hubert, knowing that Sepulveda has a 2nd place in the Tour of Turkey and a 5th at the Route du Sud where he was close to following  Contador and Quintana to the summit of the Port of Balès.

"We also target a few stages," added the general manager. "Pierrick Fedrigo can win one (he has four stages in the Tour on his palmares, ed.) and Brice Feillu can probably win in the Alps instead of going for GC like he did last year (16th in Paris, ed.) . But we also have other cards to play. Why not in Fougeres and Mûr-de-Bretagne where we are riding on home roads?"

None of the sprinters Romain Feillu and Yauheni Hutarovich were selected. "It was a difficult choice but in recent week Romain was below the level needed for the Tour. He knows it," said Emmanuel Hubert. "I have a fear that Yauheni would have a great difficulty in getting through the Pyrenees. Being up against the very best in the first week, it is better to focus on the rest of the season."

Bretagne for the Tour de France

Eduardo Sepulveda, Arnaud Gerard, Anthony Delaplace, Brice Feillu, Armindo Fonseca, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Frederik Brun, Florian Vachon and Pierrick Fedrigo