2010 Ag2r–La Mondiale season

The team has been moderately successful with several different riders in single day racing. At the Trofeo Laigueglia in February, Dessel was the team's top finisher, coming in eighth in a mass sprint finish.[1] Later that month, Roche finished on the podium at the Gran Premio dell'Insubria-Lugano, coming in third in an 11-man finish.[2] Riblon won Les Boucles du Sud Ardèche at the end of February. This was the first year that race had been held as a fully professional event.[3] On the same day, Bouet was fourth at the Gran Premio di Lugano, as he was one of relatively few riders who continued on after others left in a protest over the lack of security on the course.[4] Goddaert was fifth overall at Le Samyn in March, and Mondory ninth, staying with a leading group that was depleted by repeated attacks in the race's final kilometers.[5]

At the Route Adélie de Vitré in April, Mondory finished fourth overall, in the first chase group behind solo winner Cyril Gautier. Ravard led home the second group on the road, for ninth place.[6] Later in the month, he attained ninth in a mass sprint finish in the Scheldeprijs[7] and finished on the podium at Tro-Bro Léon with third place in a winning breakaway.[8]

The team has also sent squads to the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Montepaschi Strade Bianche, Gent–Wevelgem, Milan–San Remo, Cholet-Pays de Loire, Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke, Paris–Camembert, the Grand Prix de Denain, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne but their best result from this group of races was 13th, in E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke from Mondory[9] and in the Grand Prix de Denain from Ravard.[10]

Ag2r was one of 22 teams which participated in the Giro d'Italia. They were not competitive in the beginning of the Giro in the Netherlands, as they did not have any riders contesting the sprint finishes to stage 2 or 3 and their highest-placed rider after three stages was Alexander Efimkin in 37th.[21] Their fortunes did not improve upon the Giro's transfer to Italy, as they were last of the 22 teams in the stage 4 team time trial.[22] Efimkin gave the team its first top ten in a stage when he finished near the front of the peloton, for ninth, on stage 6, which was won by a breakaway. However, this stage was also costly for the team, as their squad leader Bonnafond was forced to retire from the Giro after crashing and sustaining a gash near his right eye.[23]

Stage 7 was hilly and raced on unpaved roads, and happened to be run on a day with heavy rain. On this day, Gadret began to reveal himself as one of the more consistent riders in the Giro's tougher stages, navigating the mud and the attacks well to finish seventh 29 seconds behind stage winner Cadel Evans.[24] Gadret led the peloton across the finish line on Monte Terminillo the next day, gaining a second on them in the process.[25] In stage 10, Garmin–Transitions leadout man Julian Dean rode so effectively in the stage's final kilometer that just nine riders, Dean included, were together for the sprint finish. Ag2r had a man in this group, Chavanel, though he finished only sixth.[26] A colossal breakaway group formed in stage 11, and Ag2r had two riders, Dupont and Efimkin, placed in it. The group splintered as the long and rainy stage wore on, but Efimkin finished fifth on the day, just seven seconds behind the stage winner and 13 minutes better than the peloton. The time gain moved him to sixth in the overall standings.[27] Efimkin retained the placing for two days, but was quickly dropped on the climb to Monte Grappa in stage 14 and lost over 13 minutes.[28] The next day, on the Giro's toughest climb, Monte Zoncolan, Gadret finished among the best, tenth on the day and three minutes behind stage winner and eventual Giro champion Ivan Basso.[29] Gadret was third in the climbing time trial to Plan de Corones in stage 16, one of only two riders within a minute of Stefano Garzelli's winning time.[30] Efimkin made another winning breakaway in stage 17, though he was unable to stay with the leaders when the group started to fragment near the end of the stage. He finished the day fifth behind stage winner Damien Monier and eight minutes better than the front riders in the peloton.[31] In stages 19 and 20, Gadret again climbed fairly well, finishing fifth and then seventh in the Giro's last two road race stages. He rode most of the Passo del Mortirolo in stage 19 with Carlos Sastre and was part of the second finishing group on the road that tried unsuccessfully to lead then-race leader David Arroyo to the line fast enough to keep the pink jersey on his shoulders.[32] His seventh place in stage 20 meant he stayed with the Giro's very best for most of the stage, fading only slightly in the final climb to the Passo del Tonale.[33] Though Ag2r did not actually win anything in the Giro, and never held any leader's jersey during the race, they were one of only three teams (the others being Liquigas–Doimo and Rabobank) to finish with three riders in the top 20 of the overall standings. These were Gadret in 13th, Efimkin in 19th, and Dupont in 20th. They finished fourth in the Trofeo Fast Team standings and sixth in the Trofeo Super Team.[34]

Roche led the squad Ag2r sent to the Tour de France. Lavenu stated that the team did not harbor any expectations for a high overall placing, while recognizing that Roche was their best chance for them. Roche also had a stage win as one of his goals. Having worked most of the season to recover from the fractured tibia he sustained at the Gran Premio dell'Insubria-Lugano, Nocentini also made the squad, along with time trial specialists Elmiger and Champion.[35] The team took a high placing in stage 2, as Bouet was the first rider across the finish line after solo breakaway rider Sylvain Chavanel won the stage, but it was meaningless. This was because it had come after race leader Fabian Cancellara negotiated with race organizers for a neutralization of the stage after many riders had crashed, including his team leader and overall Tour favorite Andy Schleck.[36] Mondory placed fifth in the stage 5 mass sprint, behind Mark Cavendish in his first 2010 Tour stage win.[37] The team took two of the top ten spots in stage 10, as a result of two very different performances. Bouet made the morning breakaway, but was unable to stay with Sérgio Paulinho and Vasil Kiryienka, who contested the stage, finishing three minutes back of them in sixth. In the closing kilometers of the stage, Roche put in an attack from the peloton that gained him a minute and 21 seconds, crossing the line seventh on the day. The attack moved him up four places, from 17th to 13th, in the general classification.[38] Mondory took another low placing in a mass sprint the next day, 8th in stage 11.[39]

The team took their one victory for this Tour in stage 14, when Riblon was the last survivor of the morning breakaway and crossed the finish line around a minute ahead of the race's top overall riders. Riblon rode both the Port de Pailhères and the stage-concluding climb to Ax-3-Domaines alone at the head of the race.[40] Stage 15 was well known for the controversy involving the Tour's top riders Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, but the Ag2r team was also involved in some minor controversy. Roche, who had been all but named by Lavenu as the team's leader for the race, punctured while climbing the Port de Balès. His nearest teammate, Gadret, not only refused to give him his wheel, but also took pulls at the front of the group so that it rode further and further away from Roche. Gadret's group finished over three minutes ahead of Roche's, and the Irishman fell three places to 17th in the overall standings. Lavenu was furious with Gadret for his actions, which led to speculation over whether the two riders would be included on the same squad for future races.[41] In this same stage, Mondory led the first large group on the road across the finish line, for fourth on the day.[42] The team did not have a high stage placing for the remainder of the Tour. Roche finished the race in 15th place, as the team's best-placed rider. He was pleased to finish 15th, while nonetheless ruing the time lost on the Port de Balès which potentially may not have been lost.[43] The squad finished fourth in the teams classification.[44]

Nicolas Roche finished seventh in the Vuelta, his first career top-ten placing in a Grand Tour.

Roche was the squad's leader for the Vuelta a España. The squad was 17th of the 22 teams in the stage 1 team time trial, finishing with the minimum of five riders together 33 seconds off the winning time put up by Team HTC–Columbia.[45] The third stage, an unusually early mountain stage, provided for some early definition to the race's overall standings. Roche finished sixth in this stage, 15 seconds back of solo stage winner Philippe Gilbert, and moved from 101st up to 25th overall with his time gain against most of the field.[46] In another hilly stage the next day, Roche was eighth in Valdepeñas de Jaén, losing 12 seconds to stage winner Igor Antón but moving up in the standings again to occupy 11th at the day's end.[47] The top of the overall standings remained unchanged until stage 8, the next mountain stage. On the final climb to Xorret de Catí, Roche finished 15th, two minutes back of stage winner David Moncoutié but still moved up into seventh overall with the result, thanks to other riders losing still more time.[48] The next stage was hilly, and Roche lost four seconds to Ezequiel Mosquera on the Alcoy climb, falling to eighth overall before the first rest day while Mosquera moved into seventh.[49]

In stage 11 in Vallnord in Andorra three days later, Roche lost 51 seconds to stage winner Igor Antón and fell to ninth.[50] Roche turned in a very strong ride in stage 14, finishing fifth 34 seconds back of stage winner Joaquim Rodríguez to occupy that same position in the overall standings.[51] Roche lost 32 seconds to the race's top riders the next day on the mammoth Lagos de Covadonga climb, falling back to sixth as Team HTC–Columbia's Peter Velits moved past him in the standings.[52] The two swapped places again after stage 16, when Roche finished better than Velits.[53] Roche had a poor time trial in Peñafiel in stage 17, finishing 38th on the day and dropping to eighth overall.[54] When Garmin–Transitions' Tom Danielson lost time in stage 19, Roche moved back up to seventh.[55] He held this position on the Bola del Mundo in stage 20, finishing sixth on that day.[56] He finished the Vuelta in that position the next day, just over five minutes back of Vuelta champion Vincenzo Nibali. It was the best Grand Tour finish for an Irish cyclist since Sean Kelly won the Vuelta in 1988. The squad finished fifth in the teams classification.[57]