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"
Cycling
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."
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.
"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.
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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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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