Seven candidates to take over as French coach from Jalabert

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France has been left with no coach for the world championships sinceLaurent Jalabert resigned on April 16. His successor will be designated by the end of July, FFC president David Lappartient announced during the national championships in Lannilis.

"We have seven candidates," Lappartient explained. "We would have liked to go faster on the matter, but the nomination of a national technical director (DTN) by the Ministry of Sport has taken longer than expected." Vincent Jacquet who has no cycling background is expected to be officially named as the DTN next week. His predecessor Isabelle Gautheron also resigned, so did sprint coach Florian Rousseau who was recently replaced by Justin Grace from New-Zealand.

Lappartient didn't name the candidates, but Cyclingnews understands they are world's bronze medallist Jean-Cyril Robin, legendary coach Cyril Guimard, triple Vuelta a Espana stage winner Dominique Arnaud, former Cofidis manager Eric Boyer, 1997 Tour de Suisse winner Christophe Agnolutto and Orica-GreenEdge's directeur sportif Lionel Marie.

"They'll be audited by a selection committee formed of Professional League president Marc Madiot, high performance manager Laurence Leboucher, the new DTN and myself," Lappartient said. "More candidates can declare themselves until July 1st. I know the calendar is quite busy with the Tour de France but by the end of July, it'll be time to have a selector for the World's. We want someone who is able to federate and manage a group, recognized by everyone, and expert in racing strategies."

Robin appears as the hot favorite. He's the second last French rider to have claimed a medal at the world championship (in 1999), the last one being Anthony Geslin in 2005. Laurent Brochard is the last Frenchman to have won the rainbow jersey in 1997.