Interview with Audrey Cordon: "You always have to challenge yourself"

After ruling the French cycling calendar during the latest years, as the leader of the team Vienne Futuroscope, Audrey Cordon is looking forward to face new challenges, now on international races. At 24, the rider from La Bretagne is ready for a new chapter with Hitec Products, the Norwegian squad unofficially known as “the biggest small team in the world”. Before travelling to Middle East for her first road race of the year, the Ladies Tour of Qatar, Cordon kindly answered to our questions.

The obvious first question had to be about the reasons that led her to join Hitec Products. She needed a change in order to keep her motivation high: “I was bored of doing always the same calendar. I really needed to take a new start for this new Olympic preparation”. As many others, she’s already thinking of Rio 2016. But, why Hitec Products? It’s not by chance; she already liked the team before: “I knew Hitec since several years and I knew it was going to be one of the best teams for me, so I took my chance”.

Her only previous team had been Vienne Futuroscope, so this is quite a change for her. New faces, different language… “We had a first team meeting in November in Norway which was really fun, everybody is really nice, the staff is professional. It’s the first time I have to speak English 24/7, which is not easy and so exhausting but really enriching as well”. Having now some of the world’s top riders as teammates, her role is going to change, but she assumes it without any problem at all. “Yes, it’s true my role will be different, but this is what I wanted. You always have to challenge yourself and look for new objectives, and that’s what I’ve done. I expect to be a good teammate for Elisa [Longo Borghini], Ashleigh [Moolman], Chloe [Hosking] or Lauren [Kitchen], and I know Marc [Bracke, the sports director] will give me my chance too. It’s not a sacrifice, it’s just necessary to grow up!”

Foto: Facebook Audrey Cordon

Growing up, developing as a cyclist, that’s her goal. Despite being quite a complete rider, kind of an all-rounder, Audrey feels she has some specific areas to improve: “I need to improve my skills as a climber, especially in long, big mountains. It’s cool to be a good descender, but if you’re not in the first group at the top it’s not that useful”. Meanwhile, she can rely on her strongest capacities: “I can be a good rouleur and I really love time trials. But my strongest skill it’s my character, I never give up!”

Back in 2012, Audrey Cordon showed she could be a good contender for the big classics in the near future. Some exceptional results for her age (12th in Drenthe, 17th in Flanders) looked promising. However, her 2013 classics campaign ended up being less than satisfying: “I was really disappointed with my first part of the season compared to 2012. I had bad luck, got hit by a car just before Het Nieuwsblad and I really suffered with the cold in Belgium. However, I think my shape was better than ever!”. She still loves the classics anyway, and thinks they may be a realistic goal in the future: “In a short term I would like to perform well in the classics… why not a podium? And, as every rider I know, I have the Olympic dream!” She had already the chance to ride the Olympics, both road and time trial races, in London 2012, achieving a remarkable 15th place in the time trial.

Another big goal of hers is wearing the blue/white/red colours as a French national champion, having already been close to it in past editions. This year she’ll have to ride it alone, though, without the help of any teammates. Cordon feels confident anyway: “I think in France the fact of riding alone gives you more chances! Christel [Ferrier Bruneau] has been twice French champion, riding without teammates. You have to be the best and count only on yourself”.

The French cyclist scene is now turning a page, once the Jeannie Longo era seems to be definitely gone. Some young talents are rising. However, almost all of them are riding for foreign teams. According to Audrey, the conditions in France are not good enough for them: “It’s a real problem in France… Futuroscope [her former squad] is a good developing team but they have no money to be a real professional team. I’ve learned a lot with them, though, and I thank them for all their support”. She continues explaining the situation: “We have even asked for help from men’s professional teams but they are not interested in developing the French women’s cycling scene, so we need to leave”.

Enjoying her best win: Tour de Bretagne 2013 / Foto: © Chloé Lemarchand | VeloNova

A few days ago we got the news about this new race called La Course by Le Tour de France, which could be a first step to have a women’s Tour de France in the future. Audrey is completely supportive of the idea: “Yes I really support it! We need it! It’s financially possible, they just have to organize it. It’s not easy of course. But British [The Women’s Tour], Italian [Giro Rosa] got it done so why not?”. It looks that the movement of both fans and riders on social media, showing an increasing interest for women’s cycling, is achieving something. Being herself a very active Twitter user, she’s aware of it: “I try to show a good image of our sport, and communicating with people helps. Something is definitely going on, but it’s slow, and we would need more support from the UCI and the media”. She concludes it with an optimistic thought: “I think we may have a good future. Perhaps something like women’s tennis? We can dream…”

As every cyclist, Audrey Cordon has gone through both good and bad times during her career. Many of them are still to come, considering her age, but she has already some unforgettable moments. One of the worst is the 2006 junior World Championships, when she could almost feel the victory until the very bitter end: “I was alone in front for 40 km and they caught me just 1 km before the finish…”. On the other hand, she keeps great memories from her win at last year’s Tour de Bretagne: “Winning it at home, in front of my family and friends has been my best moment in cycling so far”.