Dominique Rollin: Focus on the classics

Racing for a new team has given some new motivation for Dominique Rollin, and that’s paid off with some solid results so far this spring.

Since the 28-year-old from Boucherville, Que., started the season with his new Francaise de Jeux squad, he’s strung together a series of solid rides. Beginning with a pair of fourth-place finishes at the Tour de Qatar, he went on to finish third in a stage of the Dreidaagse van West-Vlaanderen, 16th at a tough Milan-San Remo and, on Wednesday, 10th in Dwars door Vlaanderen, the first cobbled semi-classic of 2011.

“I’m coming on form as planned — the hard work I did over the winter is paying off,” said Rollin from his hotel room in Gent, Belgium, Thursday evening. “My new team has given me the motivation and the stability to perform well. To be just a few metres from the podium motivates me to push more, to take some risks to try to get that first win.”

Rollin came into the team with the reputation of a man who would perform well in the spit-and-grovel early season races in Belgium, where the cold, the wind and the cobbles whittle the peloton down to just a few tough men. But in Qatar he quickly surprised team director Marc Madiot with his ability to get over the climbs.

“I’m the biggest guy in the team [6-foot-2, 180 lbs.], so he assumed that I wouldn’t go well in the hills,” Rollin said. “But as we saw in Milan-San Remo, I was able to ride well on the Poggio after 290 km.”

For North Americans, racing for European teams can be tough, but Rollin has found a welcoming environment with his new squad. That’s partly thanks to him delivering with some solid finishes.

“The fact that I’m always well positioned in the races has given my teammates confidence in me,” he said. “If I can follow through with a strong result soon that will help.”

But more important is the fact the team was not awarded a ProTeam licence by the International Cycling Union.

“I think the fact that the UCI has given us a ‘claque sur la geule’ [slap in the face] the guys are more motivated for results. So the team is working very well together, looking for results,” he said. “There are 11 new riders in the team — it’s a big job to get that many new riders working well together —  but we’re getting better and better.”

Despite his strong results in Europe over the last couple years, Rollin is still hunting for that first win, but he reckons all the ingredients are there.

“I don’t think I’m missing much, maybe just a little initiative — I have a tendency to wait,” he said, noting that luck also plays a key role. “Yesterday [in Dwars door Vlaanderen] I wasted a lot of energy — I had to walk up part of one of the climbs after being stuck behind some other riders who fell.”

If anything, the nice weather in Europe so far this spring has played against Rollin’s strengths because it hasn’t been nasty enough to split the peloton up — he doesn’t have the horsepower to win a bunch sprint, but reckons he can win from a smaller group.

“Right now we don’t feel like we’re in the classics — it’s been 20C and sunny. The first 2 hours yesterday we averaged  48km/h,” he said. “It changes the approach to the ‘monts’ [cobbled climbs]. When it’s wet they’re harder, and more selective.”

For now, Rollin’s focus is on the next two weeks, which string together some of the most important one-day races of the season. The semi-classics E3 Prijs Vlaanderen  and Ghent-Wevelgem are this Saturday and Sunday, and then come the big ones: The Tour of Flanders on April 3 and Paris-Roubaix on April 10.

“For the moment, the next two weeks are crucial — especially Paris-Roubaix, as the final race in my classics campaign,” he said.

What race would he most like to do well at?

“Paris-Roubaix for sure,” he said. “I have a long history with that race. I’ve only done it once [in 2010, when he finished 33rd], but I lived in Roubaix for a year [racing for VC Roubaix in 2006] so I know the roads well. A win there would be a consecration.”

After Roubaix, Rollin will sit down with the team and map out the rest of the year. He’s hoping to race a Grand Tour, but FDJ’s not invited to the Giro d’Italia and he doesn’t reckon he’ll be part of the team’s Tour de France squad so it will depend on whether the team is invited to the Vuelta a Espana — and without ProTeam status that’s up in the air.

As a result, Rollin doesn’t have a clear picture of the rest of the season. He’s doubtful he’ll be back in Canada for the national championships in Burlington, Ont., and because his team has no plans to race in North America before the WorldTour races in Quebec and Montreal in September, that’s likely the next time he’ll compete on Canadian soil.

But today Rollin isn’t too concerned about any of that.

“For now all my energy is focused on the next two weeks,” he said.