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Duchesne Renews with Direct Energie

by John Symon

September 13, 2016 (Montreal, QC) – Quebec road rider Antoine Duchesne has renewed his contract with French-based Direct Energie for another season, 2017, reported LaPresse on Sept. 12, the same day that Duchesne celebrated his 25th birthday.

Antoine Duchesne  ©  Pasquale Stalteri
“It’s always an honour and a nice proof of trust from the team when they renew your contract,” Duchesne told us. “It’s only one year because the team hasn’t renewed their contract with (sponsor) Direct Energie yet for 2018. So next year will be another big year for me in proving again what I can do. I think I’ll start the season with a very different approach after everything that had happened this year.”

Antoine Duchesne takes KOM  ©  A.S.O. / G. Demouveaux
Duchesne completed the Tour de France with the team in August and was leading the race at one point in a break on Stage 7. Prior to that Duchesne, also known as “Tony the Tiger,” distinguished himself at the Paris-Nice Classic in mid March by capturing the KOM polka-dot jersey. He was the top Canuck at the 2015 UCI Road Worlds in Richmond, Virginia, finishing 61st overall. He also competed at the 2015 Vuelta finishing in 138th place.

Antoine Duchesne at the TdF  ©  Cor Vos
Antoine Duchesne  ©  Chris Redden
Following this year’s TdF the talented rider was one of three Canadians on the Rio 2016 road race start line supporting Mike Woods. Then in early September he finished 8th at the Tour of Alberta and this past weekend was the third top Canadian rider at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on September 11, finishing 51st at 1:11 back from winner, Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing. Duchesne’s legs cramped shortly before the finish line, forcing him to leave the lead group of 50 riders.

Duchesne is top Canadian on Stage 1  ©  Chris Redden.2
Van Avermaet and Duchesne  ©  Peter Kraiker
Also on his resume are the U23 Canadian Road Championships in both 2012 and 2013. At the inaugural Tour of Alberta in 2013, he raced with Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, TdF winner that year, in the winning break on Stage 4 and finished fifth while Evans took the stage victory. The Classics specialist began riding for Team Europcar in 2014, which changed its name to Team Direct Energie for the 2016 season. Duchesne shares an apartment in France with another Quebec rider, Hugo Houle (AG2R).

Antoine Duchesne  ©  Pasquale Stalteri
Jimmy Engoulvent, Direct Energie’s Directeur sportif, told La Presse that he knew Duchesne was a cyclist with a bright future, but what really impressed him was the Quebec rider winning the KOM jersey at Paris-Nice.

Upcoming dates on Duchesne’s calendar include Paris-Tours on October 9, followed by the UCI Road Worlds in Qatar a week later.





1 Comments For This Post

  1. rhp96, QC, Canada says:

    That is great news for Antoine! Congrats to him. It’s pretty exciting seeing Quebec riders on UCI Pro Teams.

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