“I am ready to take risks” - Valentin Madouas sets out his ambitions for 2024

French National Champion Valentin Madouas has revealed his plans for the 2024 season. The Groupama-FDJ rider has stepped up his winter training programme ahead of his first race of the year, as he looks to be the team’s co-leader alongside Stefan Küng in the Spring Classics.

Madouas is also already on the long list of riders available for the French Olympic road race team and he will undoubtedly want to be selected, given that it is a home Olympics for the French riders this year. The Tour de France will also be a big target race for the Frenchman this summer and he is set to be at the Grand Départ in Florence at the end of June, as well as the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier that month.

His main objective though will be the Ronde van Vlaanderen, which Madouas has previously podiumed when he finished third in 2022. Speaking to L’Équipe earlier this month, he said “I believe in myself and when I’m at 100%, I know that physically, I’m one of the top five riders in the race. Tactically, I’m going to need to ride offensively and take some risks. I’m willing to take them”.

The 27-year-old had an impressive season in 2023, winning the French National Championships and the Bretagne Classic, as well as a second place finish at Strade Bianche and top-10 results at races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the E3 Saxo Classic and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.

As he sets his sights on a Monument victory this season, the question will be whether he is able to compete with the likes of Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert when a race reaches its decisive moment.

If Madouas were to win one of the five major one-day races this season, then it would make him the first Frenchman to win a Monument in half a decade, with the last one being Julian Alaphilippe at Milano-Sanremo in 2019.