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Antoine Duchesne to be sole Canadian representative in Tour de France

Tony the Tiger named in wildcard Direct Energie's squad

Antoine “Tony the Tiger” Duchesne will ride his first career Tour de France as his French Pro Continental squad Direct Energie–formerly Europcar–announced its Tour de France line up Monday. Duchesne contested his first Grand Tour last season, representing Europcar at the Vuelta a España where he was 138th. Duchesne is the only non-French national named to the outfit.


Duchesne is the lone Canadian lining up in Mont-Saint-Michel on Saturday, Ryder Hesjedal missing the race after he was expected to be one of two GC men for Trek-Segafredo, and Orica-GreenEdge facing the three weeks Canadianless for the first time in the team’s Tour history.

The wildcard Direct Energie team also throws veteran French buccaneers Sylvain Chavanel and Thomas Voeckler, recent winner of the Tour of Yorkshire, into the fray. Bryan Coquard will be the Direct Energie’s sprint hopeful.

Duchesne’s most recent results were 111th in the Critérium du Dauphiné and 42nd in the Tour of California. The season’s highlight was taking the King of the Mountains jersey at Paris-Nice in March.


In the June/July print edition of Canadian Cycling Magazine, 24-year-old Duchesne talked about his Olympic chances: “I think I have a good shot. I’ve shown I can do 260-km races. The spot I’m fighting for is essentially the ‘teammate spot’…because Rio is going to have a climber’s circuit.”