Hugo Houle’s AG2R La Mondiale focuses team objectives at Spain training camp

Canadian Hugo Houle’s AG2R team training camp in Gandia, Spain near Valencia ends on Friday after 10-days of workouts. The French-based outfit is getting ready for 2016 and focusing its goals and objectives before the first race of the season, the UCI 2.1-rated Tour de San Luis in Argentina.

Houle’s first race will be early February’s Tour of Qatar, a race that, along with the Tour of Oman where Houle will line up next, recently took a hit when fewer WorldTour teams committed to compete. Houle has Omloop Het Nieuwsblad duty at the end of February.

Houle has been with AG2R since 2013 and recently signed on for two more years. His 2015 highlights were becoming Canadian and time trial Pan American champion.

AG2R’s GC riders–three Frenchmen and one Italian–have the following schedules: 2014 Tour de France runner-up Jean-Christophe Peraud will begin his final season with the Tour de San Luis January 18-24 in support of Alexis Vuillermoz before targeting the Giro d’Italia. Vuillermoz will be the protected rider in Argentina and later ride in support of Romain Bardet at the Tour de France. Both Vuillermoz and Bardet won stages of this season’s Tour. Domenico Pozzovivo, AG2R’s best WorldTour rider of 2015 with 242-points, will start at the Tour Down Under, will share leadership with Peraud at the Giro and support Bardet in the Tour.

AG2R’s unique colour scheme of light blue, brown and white stays on its kits for 2016, with a little less brown.

The team was the 11th-ranked WorldTour team of 2015, a drop from 7th in 2014.