Florent Brard

Florent Brard (born 7 February 1976, Chambray-lès-Tours, France) is a retired French road bicycle racer. He won three national championships, including the professional road race. He became a professional in 1999

Childhood

Florent Brard was born into a cycling family. His father bought two copies of cycling magazines, one to read and the other to save, untouched.

Early career

Florent Brard raced as an amateur as a member of the Cercle Paul-Bert in the Tours region of France. He won the national youth pursuit championship in 1992 and 1993 and the junior pursuit in 1994. He tried professional racing as a stagiaire, or apprentice, with the Française des Jeux team in 1997, riding at the Élite 2 level. From there he moved next year as a full professional to Festina.

Professional career

Brard showed from his youth that he had talent for long, lone efforts and for riding a large gear for long periods. He said: "I've ridden a lot on the track during the course of my career. The......
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