The latest convert to the professional peloton from an elite competition in an outside sport will make his debut this weekend,
Emilien Jacquelin will start La Polynormande for his new team, Decathlon-CMA CGM.
The 31-year-old biathlete will race the French Cup race this Sunday, August 16, followed by the Tour du Limousin two days later.
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Jacquelin has had a successful career as a biathlete, a sport consisting of cross-country skiing and shooting, winning gold and bronze medals at the recent Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics and two silvers at Beijing 2022. He raced bikes as a child and regularly used them as part of his biathlon preparation. Having been in regular contact with Decathlon, they signed him to their Development team in March, just after the Olympics. Now, after months of preparation, he’s ready to race.
It’s not been an easy road though. Since starting training at the end of March, he’s ridden 7,330km, climbing 134,000m in the process, including an altitude training camp. During that preparation, he’s raced two French national-level events, finishing 11th and 59th, and suffered a broken collarbone in a crash.
"I am not sure what will happen in a race," he told Biathlonworld in July. "There are things I can control: to work hard every day, my nutrition, sleep well, do the best I can on intensity and try to develop my skills and relax on the bike.
"Nobody knows how I will react in a peloton. That is the biggest challenge, but I think I can be ready to be in a race in August.
"My job now is to ride 5 hours with some intensity after 4 hours," he continued, comparing the two sports. "In biathlon, I have a 30-minute warm-up, an hour thirty of intensity, cool down and go home. It is quite different.
"You can be in shape, but when you shoot bad, you use a lot of energy to understand and be better. There are skills in downhill and the peloton, but now it’s only about my pace and watts. It is not as hard mentally as shooting."
Head of performance at Decathlon, Jean-Baptiste Quiclet has been impressed with Jacquelin’s progress.
"Émilien has prepared well recently, with a challenging altitude training camp in Arc 1950," he said in a team statement. "We only gained positive results from it, as he had the time to work on his physical conditioning and string together training sessions in the mountains.
"We chose to race him immediately afterwards, knowing he would be tired, to see how his body would react.
"These are two demanding races, but they suit his profile. The goal will be for him to integrate into the team, contribute as much as possible, and experience managing such races at the professional level. Following this, we can say that part of the project is validated. Analysing these two races will allow us to discuss the next steps together."
Despite the stellar achievements of his first sport, Jacquelin knows his place as a new professional.
"These two selections represent an important step in my career, with the desire to give my all for the team," he said. "They are the culmination of several months of work during which I did everything I could to be ready for this event.
"I am aware of the opportunity I have been given, but I prefer to put emotions aside to stay focused on what I have to do in the race. Today, I have only one priority: to continue to improve and be there for the team in these first professional races."
Many other athletes have made similar moves from the elite level in one sport into the WorldTour peloton, though only a handful have proved successful.
Primož Roglič is perhaps the best known, and was famously a ski jumper before taking to two wheels, often celebrating his regular wins by mimicking the telemark landing of his earlier sport. Recent Tour de France Femmes debutant Sandrine Tas also crossed over from winter sports, having previously competed at the Winter Olympics as a speed skater.
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