Place 20 - Arnaud Molmy

Arnaud Molmy

France

07.08.1988

 

Type of rider: Sprinter, Classics

Biggest Success: Stage Win Etoile de Bessèges

Team/Club 2010: Roubaix – Lille Metropole

Stagiaire: -

Team 2011: BigMat

Best Mock List Ranking: new

Web: www.facebook.com

 

Part time work was pushed to the extremes in 2010. While Arnaud Molmy may not be the inventor of it, he perfected this principle for riders of the Under 23 category.

 

At the beginning of last season the name of the then 20-year-old was first heard of in the German cycling community. From French internet forums it was heard that Molmy might be something special, the strongest French Under 23 rider, a big talent. Some were quite surprised, because they had never heard of him before. Also on international result tables his name rarely showed in the upper ranks.

In the national Under 23 races it was quite a different picture. Whenever the French Under 23 top-riders met, Molmy was among the best and won twice. So the cycling community waited for further developments, keeping his name in mind.

 

Until in the middle of March there was the La Roue Tourangelle (1.2): a former Under 23 race that left the Under 23 status behind, thus losing a little bit of status. Molmy won the race in a solo move after shaking off breakaway companions Mederic Clain and Dimitry Samokhalov. The insiders nodded knowingly when hearing of the result. But again, after that there were little results in the ensuing season. Also not in his role as a stagiaire for Cofidis.

 

So the cycling community waited for 2010. Molmy signed with continental team Roubaix – Lille Metropole. And a week before the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver started, Molmy had a strong showing at the Etoile de Bessèges (2.1). The first stage ended in a sprint, Molmy finished 3rd behind Borut Bozic and Nico Eeckhout. On the next stage, the podium was the same, but Molmy placed 2nd. On the third stage the young Frenchman failed in the sprint, but on the fourth stage, after Samuel Dumoulin was relegated for taking a shortcut in the last kilometer, Molmy, who had placed second originally, was declared winner. He also took the overall lead. The last stage was also decided in a sprint, but without Molmy. More than 20 riders had suffered from stomach problems overnight and couldn't start, among them Molmy. The win in Bessèges would have been the biggest success of a Under 23 rider in 2010. Still suffering from the illness, Molmy also had to abandon in the first stage of the Tour Méditerranéen (2.1) and the second stage of the Tour du Haut Var (2.1). Compared to the year before, the 22 year-old could do better by showing some good results for a period of some weeks.

In the beginning of March he placed 5th at the GP Ville de Lillers (1.2), a 6th place at the sprint stage of the Criterium International (2.HC) is to be estimated even higher. In the end of April he finished second to John Degenkolb in a sprint at the Tour de Bretagne (2.2). Then came a rather nondescript summer season.

Contrary to the previous season he also had results in August, placing 11th at Paris-Correze (2.1), but didn't reach the level of the spring.

 

It seems that Molmy's achievements were already forgotten by the team managers, too, as he wasn't offered a big pro contract yet. He also wasn't nominated for the World Championships, but that doesn't matter too much, as they are not held in March. What Molmy still has to reach for is more stability throughout the season, and maybe then he will be offered a Pro Tour contract ...

 

nominated by wagenge, virtualprofit & chreezer, written by ogkempf, translated by bugno