“Tony the Tiger” Duchesne earns two year extension with Groupama-FDJ

After over a month out of competition, new Canadian road champion Antoine Duchesne is back in action at the 2018 WorldTour’s 13th stage race, the Tour of Poland, where he signed a two-year contract extension with Groupama-FDJ. “Tony the Tiger” joined Groupama this season after four years with Direct Energie/Europcar.

Très heureux de prolonger l’aventure pour 2 ans encore avec @equipegroupamafdj ???????#atcommunication https://t.co/qCAWPwt2Gm pic.twitter.com/PpgwzLqFKy

— Antoine Duchesne (@tonythetiger_1) August 6, 2018

So far the Tour of Poland has been about sprints; Duchesne finished 58th and 72nd in the first two stages, both of which were won by Bora-Hansgrohe’s breakout fast man Pascal Ackermann, a German who has won the four last races he has entered, including last week’s WorldTour one-day contest RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

Duchesne finally got a chance to fly his maple leaf kit in competition after having displayed it on social media atop the Col du Tourmalet in late July.

Besides winning the Canadian road title, Duchesne’s 2018 highlights have been 10th behind Thomas de Gendt and then 11th place to–surprise–Ackermann in Stage 2 and 5 of April’s Tour de Romandie.

???The 2018 Canadian road champion local favourite Antoine Duchesne ahead of Perry and Ellsay. What a show! ??? pic.twitter.com/sKKvEbmh4W

— Canadian Cycling Mag (@CanadianCycling) June 23, 2018

Duchesne also has the distinction of being the last Canadian to race the Tour de France, Canada’s sole representative in the 2016 edition for wildcard Direct Energie. He was 107th.