Julien Bérard

Julien Bérard
	Bérard at the 2015 Grand Prix Pino Cerami
Personal information
Full name	Julien Bérard
Born	27 July 1987 (age 37); Paris, France
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Puncheur
Amateur teams
2006–2009	Chambéry CF
2008	Ag2r–La Mondiale (stagiaire)
Professional team
2010–2017	Ag2r–La Mondiale

Julien Bérard (born 27 July 1987) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2017, entirely for the AG2R La Mondiale team.^[1]

Amateur career

Born in Paris, Bérard recorded his first notable result in July 2005 when he won the third stage of the junior edition of the Tour du Valromey.^[2] In another stage during that same stage race he finished in second position. In 2008 he started as a stagiaire for the Ag2r–La Mondiale team. He claimed his first podium finish, at the Tour des Pays de Savoie where he finished in second position in stage 3, and also finished second overall in the general classification.^[1] In the Tour de la Creuse he managed to finish in third position in the second stage, but he also claimed the victory in the general classification standings for that race.^[1] His first real road race win at senior level was a win in the second stage of the Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon with the finish in Mende.^[1]

Bérard maintained his spot at Chambéry CF for the 2009 season in which he claimed his first victory on 28 March, when he finished 32 seconds in front of the runner-up at the Grand Prix Saint-Etienne Loire.^[3] In the Tour du Perigord - A Travers les Bastides he finished third and he won the third stage of the Ronde de l'Isard.^[1] That result was followed by two second places in the first stage of the Tour des Pays de Savoie and the Mi-Aout Bretonne. In that last race he also claimed the third spot in the general classification.^[1] In the Tour de l'Avenir he booked his biggest success as an amateur, by winning the first stage of the race in Dreux, France, ahead of Romain Sicard and Dennis van Winden.^[4]

Professional career

Ag2r–La Mondiale offered him a professional contract for the 2010 season, in which he struggled to come up with some top-three results. His best results of that season were accomplished during the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo race in Gabon. Here he finished fifth in the second stage, seventh in the fourth stage and sixth in the general classification.^[1] In 2011 Bérard made his debut in one of the grand tours when he was called up for the Giro d'Italia. Without any serious race winning attempts Bérard managed to complete the prestigious stage race in Milan with a 122nd place in the general classification.^[5] During the French National Road Race Championships in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bérard finished in fourth position behind Sylvain Chavanel, Anthony Roux and Thomas Voeckler.^[6] Later in the season, he took a third-place finish in the Tour du Doubs.^[1]