Après la présentation du #TDF24, Valentin Madouas s'est rendu au siège de @groupama à Nanterre. Les collaborateurs ont pu échanger avec le Champion de France 2023 🤝
Groupama - FDJ believe 2023 "was a good season, but not exceptional"
CyclingTuesday, 31 October 2023 at 19:00
Groupama - FDJ is having a transition season. Arnaud Démare and Thibaut Pinot leave the team, David Gaudu struggled to match his 2022 season, but new stars like Lenny Martínez and Romain Grégoire have shown signs that they will take up the team's lead in future years.
"I could give 6.5 with the jury’s encouragement, but let’s say seven because we won a WorldTour Classic. We are above average because if we look at the various UCI rankings, we are above average. We are seventh out of the eighteen WorldTour teams, and we were even in fifth place at one point," team director Yvon Madiot said in a press release. "We agreed that it was a good season, but not exceptional. On the other hand, we also note that we became quite consistent... If we keep the school theme going, we have good students (he refers to the development team riders, ed.), who are young, who can improve, so that’s promising."
"Besides that, we’re aware of the fact that we face three/four teams with very, very high resources, and that it is hard to fight. Our goal is obviously to beat them. We may not be quite ready yet, but it will come. We probably won’t be able to win a Grand Tour next year, but we’re absolutely able to win a stage on the Grand Tours."
Valentin Madouas won the Bretagne Classic after the national championships and was perhaps the team's main figure of the season - and the one who was the most important for Groupama. Stefan Küng continued to perform, but despite the team's consistency and strong placing in the rankings, only two victories at World Tour level meant for a mixed result.
As the team sees riders like Arnaud Démare and Thibaut Pinot - who turned pro and spent over a decade in the team - leave, Madiot concludes with the belief that the team has already successfully adapted to the changes that are coming. "The transition is already made. I’ll also remember the words of Thibaut, who is retiring after having carried the team very high for all these years."
"After his last race, he shared meaningful words to the riders who were there, including a few young ones. He said, “take care of this team”. This is the most beautiful verbal handover that we could have hoped for. I firmly believe that his successors are able to take over."
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- That’s the most stupid thing I’ve read for a long time, did you not go to school and learn even the most basic physics? Aero depends on one thing only, drag, drag depends speed and the relationship is squared and apart from maybe at zero or the speed of sound or due to side winds that relationship is valid at all speeds, it dies not “suddenly” start at a magic number. Very simply, the faster you go the more the effect becomes important. If you think 25km/h is needed to have noticeable effects you’re delusional, athletic WR are cancelled as soon as winds top 2m/s that’s 7.2km/h, why because the assistance is already too important at that speed and the times prove it. You don’t even consider wind which can significantly increase the effective speed for aerodynamics and you underestimate speed of climbs, 6% is ridden more at 30 than 25km/h, a speed at which early generation high rims were considered to have more advantages than disadvantages. And finally, as in normal races you can’t just switch bikes according to terrain, it’s pretty pointless to discuss climbs as a separate situation, the aero will have justified itself plenty during the rest of the ride.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- If you look at how much TP progressed in that 1 1/2 years you can no longer say that’s nothing. If Remco improves as much he’s a challenger!Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Froome wishing to ride the Vuelta...he won't even be selected for the team!frieders320-12-2024
- Keep telling yourself that Remco but you not only have Tadeg to beat but Jonas!frieders320-12-2024
- Seems farfetched - I agree. Mas has beaten him once. Giro d'Emillia I think - 2022mobk20-12-2024
- Barring injuries, by the time Pogacar's dominance fads there will be lots of new young talent. Pogacar is about 1 1/2 years older than Remco. That's nothing.Sweep20-12-2024
- I actually don’t find that too impressive. In my later forties I did similar figures for a 3.5% gradient as a total nobody with no wind assistance. Am sure there’s margin for improvement there, especially looking at all the names on that list.Mistermaumau20-12-2024
- Jonas', was 6 years agospock12320-12-2024
- The race where he overnight suddenly turned nuclear after being packfodder at best for several years. His Sky days after that Vuelta and Pogačar’s last season shall remain the darkest post Lance stuff cycling has witnessed. Good riddance Froome.
UltimateOpportunist20-12-2024 - Finishing the Vuelta seems to be a reasonably attainable goal. Getting on the team to do that will be the more difficult challenge.
santiagobenites20-12-2024