The famous finish of the stage to Dlouhé Stráně represented the first victory of his short career so far. The calendar showed the first day of June 2024. One day later, Frenchman Brieuc Rolland dominated the overall standings of the Peace Race under 23 at just 20 years of age. Now he faces the challenge of a lifetime, a challenge that has been met in the past by World Tour peloton stars like Tadej Pogačar and David Gaudu!
"My first dream was to get a World Tour engagement. The second is to ride stage races for podium finishes or to win. The goal for me is Grand Tour races, which means improving in the mountains and in the time trial," the Rennes native said on the Groupama FDJ website.
It was with the French elite formation that he signed a two-year contract for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, fulfilling the first part of his dream. At the moment, he still remains in the development squad of the team whose colours were worn in the past by French legend Thibaut Pinot. To fulfil the second half of the dream, Brieuc Rolland can take an important step during the third week of August. He will try to earn a valuable double in the Nations Cup series. That is to say, to add to his triumph in the Peace Race a victory in the Tour de l'Avenir, a race known as the Tour de France for riders under the age of thirty-three.
Only two cyclists in history have pulled off this feat. The first was David Gaudu in the 2016 season, who won a stage at the then under-23 Peace Race, leaving behind current stars like Tao Geoghegan Hart and Max Schachmann in the final count. Now the leader of the Groupama FDJ formation, Gaudu boasts a fourth place finish at the 2022 Tour de France and stage wins at the Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné and Spanish Vuelta.
The other man to hold the coveted Nations Cup double is Tadej Pogačar, a cycling phenomenon of the moment and three-time Tour de France winner. He dominated the 2018 Under-23 Peace Race, with stars like Jonas Vingegaard, Felix Gall and Marc Hirschi behind him. A few weeks later, he dominated the Tour de l'Avenir.
The young Brieuc Rolland started cycling to follow in his father's footsteps as an amateur racer. And, in fact, his brother, whom he also saw racing, albeit at amateur level. After seven years on a mountain bike, he switched to the road at 14. But his burgeoning career was almost brought to a halt by an unfortunate accident. In a pandemic-marred 2020 season, he set off for time trial training and was knocked down by an inattentive driver who failed to yield the right of way at an intersection. "I ended up on his windscreen. It was a shock for the driver. I escaped without any serious injuries, but I suffered from migraines because of the concussion. When the doctors allowed me to get back on my bike a few weeks later, my dad took me to the mountains, which was very good for me. I was happy to be able to race again," recalled the young Frenchman of a critical moment in his career.
The next season he celebrated his first big win. He made the French team for the Giro della Lunigiana, alongside a certain Lenny Martinez. "I was very happy to be chosen for this race. And then came the first stage. Nicolas Rousset-Favier and I broke away and we didn't think too much about it. In the end I found myself alone at the front, riding hard and celebrating the win. It was crazy to win in the jersey of the French team, but I was so happy. That's when I said I wanted to be a professional cyclist," recalled Brieuc Rolland.
Last year, ahead of signing a contract with an elite team, the management of the Groupama FDJ formation sent him to experience the Tour of Slovakia as a rookie. With stars like Thibaut Pinot, Bruno Armirail, David Gaudu and Stefan Küng. "It was incredible to ride with guys I look up to," he admitted with a smile. "I learned a lot."
He is applying the experience during this season. He dominated the Peace Race, the opening round of the Nations Cup, after finishing second in the Under-23 National Championship and second overall in the Orlen Nations Grand Prix. And now he faces a challenge in the form of the Tour de l'Avenir.
Foto: Foto: Jan Brychta, Markéta Navrátilová
