Pierre Rolland has given French cycling something to become excited about, after winning the young riders classification in the Tour de France, last month.
Rolland was born 10th October 1986, to father John-Pierre and mother Chantal, in Gien, in Northern France. The only boy in his family Rolland has three older sisters; Stephanie, Françoise and Anne-Sophie.
In the Beginning
At 11-years-old, he and his family moved closer to the centre of Orleans, in 1999, which didn’t have any high level of sport, making cycling difficult for him. It wasn’t until he met, his soon to be best friend, Benjamin Gault, that he begun mountain biking. Rolland eventually moved over road cycling and, in 2004, he took 14th at the Junior Road Cycling World Championships.
With some positive results, under his belt, Rolland decided to head over to Britain, for two years, and try his luck. His hard work paid off and, in 2006, he was offered a position as a stagiaire at Credit Agricole. The following year, the team offered him a full position and he finally became a professional rider. A month was yet to pass, of his professional contract, and he was already winning races.
Becoming Pro
In mid-January he took victory in stage one, of the 2007 edition, of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimbo. He followed his good start up and only lost out on taking overall victory, by 2 seconds, to Frédéric Guesdon. His next victory didn’t come until much later in the season, when he won on stage 2 of the Tour du Limousin. 2008 only provided one victory for Rolland, but it was a good one, with first in the mountains classification Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. Selection for the French Olympic team rounded off a good year for the 22-year-old.
With Credit Agricole pulling out of cycling and removing their sponsorship, Rolland moved to Bouygues Telecom. His first year at the team was pretty lean, with regards to victories, only managing 3rd at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimbo. However, he did make his first appearance at the Tour de France and finished just outside the top 20.
On the up
2010 gave Rolland another climber’s jersey, but this time it was at the Critérium International. He did also return to form at the Dauphiné, where he finished 8th overall; 6 minutes 16 down on the winner Janez Brajkovič. After only two years at his team, yet again, Rolland found himself in the situation, where he may become team-less again. Bouygues Telecom had decided to pull their sponsorship from the team and leaving them in no man’s land. After some nervy months, and many riders leaving the team, they did eventually secure some sponsorship, with Europcar.
Europcar were to be paid back in full, by Rolland and teammate Thomas Voeckler, during the 2011 Tour de France. A fine breakaway ride had secured Voeckler the tour’s yellow jersey and it was down to the team to keep it. Rolland’s proven climbing skills came in to play and he paced his leader to 10 days in the jersey. Coming in to stage 19, the French were yet to take a single stage victory; despite having been in almost every breakaway. Rolland had been working hard for his team leader, but was given the ok to go on the break. He managed to hold on to the wheel of Samuel Sanchez; before leaving the Olympic Champion and Alberto Contador, to take the victory.
Rolland just missed out on a top ten finish, but a superb time-trial secured him the white jersey and pinned the hopes of France on his back.
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