Cyrille Guimard is critical of French rider development after Tour de France: "Everything starts before the age of 15. That's where we don't act"
Cycling
Cyrille Guimard comes with his last column at Cyclim'Actu on topic of Tour de France. Guimard obviously mentioned the now double winner of the Tour, as well as the suspicions of which he was the object, it is the state of French cycling which most challenged Guimard, who makes the same observation as previous years and sees no positive development.
"Suspicion accompanies the riders every kilometer, except that the proofs are never provided. It will start again the same way next year. As soon as you win, it's not because the others are weaker, but because you have the best medical team or the best laboratory to allow you to develop more watts. If it were that simple, there are countries that would be world champions with nags."
"We don't want to recognize that the others are stronger, that we may not have the technological or scientific means to reach that level, but also that we maybe don't have the riders."
"Everything starts at the basics, everything starts before the age of 15. That's where we don't act and that's where we don't do the things that need to be done."
"As soon as you start increasing the training loads of a young person, everyone tells you that you are going to burn him out. But it is the opposite. It is by not developing certain qualities at a certain age that you burn an athlete. It's not by training him more that you burn him, but by not training him enough."
"And then does someone with talent come on the bike today? Do we make them want to ride a bike, do we create the desire? No, and just look at the number of licensees in each category. We don't want to. And then, of course, you need genetic qualities."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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