Early years (2007–2008) Born in
Gien, Rolland turned professional in 2007 for after riding for the team as a stagiaire in late 2006. In his first season as a professional he won a stage at
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and the
Tour du Limousin. In 2008 he won the mountains classification at the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. At the
2008 Summer Olympic Games, Rolland competed in the
road race but did not finish.
Bbox Bouygues Telecom/Team Europcar (2009–2015) In his first season at , Rolland finished 3rd at
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, but had to wait until 2010 to collect his first victory for the team, as he won a stage at the
Circuit de Lorraine and finished eighth at the
Critérium du Dauphiné.
2011 on
Alpe d'Huez On stage 9 in the
Tour de France,
Thomas Voeckler claimed the yellow jersey after being in the breakaway. For the following week, Rolland would help Voeckler defend the jersey over legendary mountain passes at
Luz Ardiden, the
Plateau de Beille and the
Col du Galibier. Rolland gained acclaim for his strong work in defense of Voeckler's yellow jersey. Following the 14th stage of the Tour,
Lance Armstrong referred to Rolland as a "rockstar." Rolland won the 19th stage at the top of
Alpe d'Huez, beating Olympic gold medalist
Samuel Sánchez and two-time Tour champion
Alberto Contador. The victory also won him the white jersey, which he successfully defended in the 20th stage, as he finished the Tour 10th overall.
2012 In his first race of the season, Rolland won a stage at the
Étoile de Bessèges and finished the race 4th overall. Rolland recorded his best result, at the time, at
Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where he finished 12th. After the first week in the
Tour de France, Rolland was only 25th overall, and had also endured a crash on stage 6. On
stage 11, Rolland was part of a four-rider breakaway, along with
Chris Anker Sørensen (),
Robert Kišerlovski () and
Vasil Kiryienka (). On the descent from the
Col du Mollard, Rolland crashed in a corner but quickly got back on his bike. On the final climb up to La Toussuire/
Les Sybelles, Rolland attacked and left the other riders behind, to take yet another solo win in the Tour de France. Rolland moved up to 9th position overall after the stage but was still keen to hunt for more stage wins. On the final mountain stage of the Tour, Rolland finished 5th and moved up to 8th position overall. This was his best career finish at the time, at the Tour de France, and he was also the best placed Frenchman in the general classification.
2013 at the
2013 Tour de France In April, Rolland won the penultimate stage of the
Circuit de la Sarthe, and won the race overall the next day. Just a few days later he was 3rd in the one-day race,
Paris–Camembert. Rolland then went on to finish 10th overall at the
Giro del Trentino, before one of his last goals of the spring campaign at
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. After finishing 12th the previous year, Rolland had high hopes but had to settle for 24th. On stage 2 in the 100th edition of the
Tour de France, Rolland made it into the breakaway and snatched the
polka-dot jersey for the first time in his career. He would keep it until stage 7, where fellow Frenchman
Blel Kadri took the lead with 1 point. On the last day in the Pyrenees on stage 9, Rolland reclaimed the jersey after collecting enough points in the breakaway. Rolland lost the jersey on stage 15 to
Chris Froome, who won the stage to
Mont Ventoux.
2014 The 2014 season was the first season that Rolland rode the
Giro d'Italia. After a spring where he had not delivered any top results, the pressure was lifted off his shoulders as he started the race. After finishing 21st in the team time trial, Rolland started the Giro off in the worst way possible. However at the end of the first week, Rolland improved and he moved up to 12th overall when the second rest day approached. As the more mountainous stages appeared in the race, Rolland improved his performance and moved even further up in the general classification. On the stage to Val Martello, Rolland finished 3rd and moved up to 4th overall. He advanced to 3rd place just two days after, and despite delivering one of his best Time trials ever on stage 19 where Rolland finished 4th, he dropped out of the podium placings. On the penultimate stage to
Monte Zoncolan, Rolland was on an almost impossible task, if he wanted to finish on the podium. He eventually lost 4 seconds to
Fabio Aru, and therefore finished fourth in the general classification, his best finish in a
Grand Tour. As he arrived at the
Tour de France, Rolland was not considered any threat to the general classification and could therefore focus on breakaways. He attacked on stage 2 in the final kilometres but was unable to remain clear. On stage 9 to Mulhouse, Rolland moved up to 8th in the general classification after his performance in the breakaway. On the next day he dropped to 16th overall, possibly because of his efforts on the previous day. His best stage finish came on stage 17 to
Saint-Lary-Soulan where he was 6th. Rolland finished the Tour de France just outside top 10, in eleventh overall.
2015 In his last season with , Rolland was very close to victory on two occasions in the spring. He finished 2nd on the first stage of the
Volta a Catalunya, after losing the sprint to
Maciej Paterski. Paterski moved into the leader's jersey after the stage, but Rolland claimed the jersey on stage 3 after Paterski lost over a minute. Rolland lost the jersey on the following stage, losing over five minutes. Two weeks later, Rolland was in the breakaway in the
Circuit de la Sarthe, but this time he lost the sprint to
Manuele Boaro. One week later, Rolland finally achieved his first win of the season by winning the third and last stage of the
Vuelta a Castilla y León in solo fashion, winning the overall race by 16 seconds. At the
Tour de France, Rolland was outside the top 10 before the final week. On stage 18, Rolland was in the breakaway and finished 2nd behind countryman
Romain Bardet. On the following day, Rolland went into the breakaway again and attacked solo. As he had won on La Toussuire–
Les Sybelles in
2012, Rolland was looking to repeat it once again but was later overtaken by the eventual stage winner
Vincenzo Nibali, and finished 11th on the stage. Rolland went into the breakaway once again on stage 20 on the stage to
Alpe d'Huez, a mountain he had also won on previously, in
2011. This time, Rolland finished 6th and defended his 10th place in the general classification. In the
Vuelta a España, Rolland was targeting stage wins and was in the breakaways once again with his best result being 5th on stage 16.
Cannondale (2016–2018) On 27 August 2015, it was announced that Rolland would join for the 2016 season.
2016 before enduring a heavy crash With Rolland's move to for the 2016 season, Rolland was looking to add more flavour to his racing career. Having ridden many races in the previous seasons, he switched his focus to altitude camps. Having raced on a French team for the previous 10 seasons, Rolland did not speak English when he first arrived at . Even though being tough at first, Rolland could eventually communicate well with his team-mates even though the year was a learning curve; he was still looking to perform on his best level. At the
Critérium du Dauphiné, Rolland finished 10th overall. Rolland was 9th overall after stage 7 at the
Tour de France, however he crashed into the side of a rock on the descent to
Bagnères-de-Luchon on stage 8 and lost almost 2 minutes. He also crashed on a descent on stage 19 after being in the breakaway with
Rui Costa. At his last race of the season, at the
Vuelta a España, Rolland finished 7th on stage 4.
2017 Rolland started the 2017 season off by finishing 78th at the
Vuelta a Andalucia. His first top 10 result came at the
Tour of the Alps where he finished 6th overall. He also finished 4th on stage 3, and 5th on the final stage. One of Rolland's season goals was the 100th edition of the
Giro d'Italia. He was very close to winning stage 11 of the race but finished 3rd in a reduced breakaway sprint behind
Omar Fraile and
Rui Costa. On stage 17, Rolland tried his luck once again, and after having made a solo attack inside the final , he managed to stay away to celebrate his first
Giro d'Italia stage win. Just two days later he was yet again in the breakaway, but this time he would be beaten by
Mikel Landa and Costa to take another 3rd place in the race. Almost three weeks after the Giro, Rolland took part in the
Route du Sud, his final race before the
Tour de France. Having lost almost 10 minutes after the first two stages, Rolland was no real threat towards the general classification and attacked with to go on stage 3 on the climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. He managed to keep the other contenders behind him to take his second win of the year. The Tour de France did not become a success for Rolland. His primary goal was to hunt stage wins but throughout the race he battled against angina, rhinitis and bronchitis which made his race more difficult. Rolland also said that if it had been any other race, he would have been at home instead of racing. Rolland finished his season with the
Bretagne Classic in August, finishing 79th.
2018 At
Paris–Nice, Rolland finished 23rd overall. He abandoned
Volta a Catalunya on the last day, but recovered throughout the following week to take part in the
Circuit de la Sarthe where he finished 20th overall. He then rode the spring classics but did not manage to deliver any top results. Having had a disappointing spring season, Rolland was looking to rebound at the
Critérium du Dauphiné. The last four stages of the race all featured mountains, and Rolland slowly made his way into the top 10, and was in the breakaway on the final day where he finished 10th and moved up to 8th overall. Starting his 10th
Tour de France, Rolland was a support rider for
Rigoberto Urán in the mountains, but with Urán abandoning the race after stage 11, it meant Rolland had more chances for stage victories and he grabbed that opportunity on stage 12 – with three
hors catégorie climbs in the with a finish at
Alpe d'Huez, on which Rolland won in
2011. Although having made a great effort early on the stage, Rolland and many others in the breakaway were caught before the final climb. His best stage result came on stage 14 to
Mende where he was in the decisive breakaway but had to settle with 11th. Rolland also rode the
Vuelta a España, and was in the breakaway on stage 4, however he did not cover the eventual winning attack inside the breakaway by
Nikita Stalnov and
Ben King.
Vital Concept–B&B Hotels (2019–2022) On 9 August 2018, it was announced that Rolland was to join for the 2019 season after three years at . Rolland started his 2019 season at the
Grand Prix La Marseillaise, where he finished 73rd. His first top 10 result came at the
Vuelta a Aragón where he placed 6th overall. Rolland finished 7th overall at the
Vuelta a Burgos, the
Tour du Limousin and the
CRO Race. For the
2020 Tour de France, the team managed to gain a wildcard, however the race was postponed – from June and July to August and September – due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in France. At the
Tour de Savoie Mont-Blanc, Rolland won stage 3 en route to the overall victory; he also won the mountains classification. At the Tour de France, Rolland finished 2nd on Stage 12, and finished 18th overall. At the
2021 Tour du Rwanda, Rolland won stage 6 after attacking with to go. The breakaway group were unable to catch Rolland, as he went on to win the stage by 50 seconds, for his first professional win since the 2017
Route du Sud. Rolland won the mountains classification at the
2022 Critérium du Dauphiné – fourteen years after winning the same classification in his first start at the race – and finished second on the sixth stage to
Valentin Ferron. However, folded in December, and Rolland ultimately retired from professional cycling the following week. ==Major results==