25/07/2024

Guillaume Martin blames lackluster Tour on 'too heavy' bicycles: "I wouldn't have finished 45 seconds behind the Pogacar group at the top of the Bonette"

Guillaume Martin fought at the Tour de France to the best of his abilities, however it wasn't good enough to reach further than 13th place in the GC and without a realistic shot at a stage success. According to the Frenchman, the 'too heavy' LOOK bikes are to blame for his struggling.

He reports this in a roundabout way when Le Monde asks him to analyse his own performance data from the last Tour. "Unfortunately, that is not possible, because I do not have a power meter. Our bikes weigh 7.7 kilograms, 1 kilo more than the UCI's permitted weight. I do not want to make my bike even heavier with a bike computer and meter, which also weigh 200 grams."

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Martin explains that one kilo more in cycling is really a lot these days. He gives an example of what it makes a difference in practice. "If you calculate with a bike that weighed a kilo too much, I wouldn't have finished 45 seconds behind the Pogacar group at the top of the Bonette. I could have stayed with them and also taken some time to eat. I would have felt better anyway if I knew that everything was better. We pay attention to weight with nutrition all year..."

The team reacted as if stung by a wasp after the interview with Martin, who will probably pack his bags for Groupama - FDJ after this season. They came up with a statement on their website very quickly.

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"The weight of the bike is an important consideration, but not the only performance factor. The bike used by Martin is specifically designed not to exceed 7.4 kilograms, a weight that is slightly below the average of the bikes of the best riders in the peloton. Our riders benefit from advanced material with frames from LOOK," it says.

"We are convinced that our material partners have enabled us to compete with our opponents. We have also achieved several victories with the same bike in the 2023 Tour, the 2023 Vuelta and this year's Giro," Cofidis also points out.