FDJ climber Arnold Jeannesson will miss the opening race of his season, the GP La Marseillaise, which takes place on Sunday. Having crashed a few weeks ago on his birthday, the Frenchman will postpone his race debut until later in the year.

 

Arnold Jeannesson has repeatedly showed his talents as a climber, with a 6th place in the 2012 Paris-Nice, 14th in the 2011 Tour de France, 5th in the 2012 Tour of Oman, and 10th in the 2013 Clasica San Sebastian. In 2014 he is again expected to play an important role in the grand tours on a roster that also includes talented climbers like Thibaut Pinot, Kenny Elissonde, and Alexandre Geniez.

 

However, Jeannesson has got his season off to a bad start as he has had to cancel his scheduled participation in the GP La Marseillaise which opens the European season on Sunday. After participating in the French cyclo-cross championships on January 12, he crashed 4 days later, ironically on his birthday.

 

This has left him unable to do Sunday's race and so he is missing from the line-up that FDJ has announced. Instead, the team will be led by French champion Arthur Vichot who finished 3rd in 2012 and 5th in 2011.

 

The race is held in the hills around Marseille and has both been won by escape artists and by fast riders from a reduced bunch sprint. With his good sprint and soli climbing legs, Vichot is an obvious leader for the race.

 

Other options for glory are Laurent Pichon and Anthony Geslin who have many of the same characteristics as Vichot. Veteran Pierrick will return to the race for the first time since 2014 while Thibaut Pinot will make an early 2014 debut in a race that doesn't suit him well.

 

The roster is completed by Ardennes specialist Benoit Vaugrenard, Cedric Pineau and neo-professional Emilien Viennet.

 

On Wednesday, the first European stage race will kick off, with the Etoile de Besseges following just a few days after the opening one-day race. For that race, Pinot, Viennet and Fedrigo will be replaced by Nacer Bouhanni, Sebastien Chavanel, and Jeremy Roy.

 

The 5-day race usually has a number of bunch sprints and will be the first chance for Bouhanni to start to work together with new signing Chavanel who will be an important lead-out rider in the new season. As the race ends with an 11km uphill time trial in Ales, the team has brought in time trial specialist Jeremy Roy who was 4th in the 2013 edition of the event.

 

In 2014 the GP La Marseillaise was won by Justin Jules while Jonathan Hivert took home the overall in the Etoile de Besseges.

 

Europcar announce line-ups for opening French races

Team Europcar have also announced their line-ups for the first two races of the season. In Marseille, the team will have an aggressive approach as they have no real sprinter on their roster.

 

Perennial attacker Cyril Gautier will join forces with Davide Malacarne to lighten things up on the climbs while Alexandre Pichot and Giovanni Bernaudeau will try to make it into a select group if it comes down to a sprint. Perrig Quemeneur and Angelo Tulik both showed good form in the Tour Down Under while Jerome Cousin will continue the work he did in Australia. Vincent Jerome completes the roster as he starts his build-up for the cobbled classics.

 

For the Etoile de Besseges, only Cousin and Gautier will remain as the team brings in a number of riders that will support star sprinter Bryan Coquard. Last year he started his career in impressive fashion by winning two stages and this time he will have Yohann Gene and new signing Jimmy Engoulvent at his side.

 

New signing Romain Sicard will do his first race for his new team while neo-professionals Bryan Nauleau and Romain Guillemois complete the roster.

 

FDJ for GP La Marseillaise

Cédric Pineau, Laurent Pichon, Benoit Vaugrenard, Anthony Geslin, Arthur Vichot, Thibaut Pinot, Pierrick Fedrigo and Emilien Viennet

 

FDJ for Etoile de Besseges

Cédric Pineau, Laurent Pichon, Benoit Vaugrenard, Anthony Geslin, Arthur Vichot Nacer Bouhanni, Jérémy Roy and Sébastien Chavanel

 

Europcar GP La Marseillaise

Giovanni Bernaudeau, Jérôme Cousin, Cyril Gautier, Vincent Jérôme, Davide Malacarne, Alexandre Pichot, Perrig Quemeneur and Angelo Tulik

 

Europcar Etoile de Bessèges 

Bryan Coquard, Jérôme Cousin, Jimmy Engoulvent, Cyril Gautier, Yohann Gene, Romain Guillemois Bryan Nauleau and Romain Sicard