“The Tour will be over in three or four days” - Marc Madiot expecting Tadej Pogacar Tour de France rout

In just a few days, the 2024 Tour de France will get underway in Florence. After some interrupted preparation for his rivals, UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar starts as the strong pre-race favourite, despite having already won the Giro d'Italia this year.

With the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel having their seasons disrupted by a very nasty crash at the Itzulia Basque Country, Pogacar is probably the only one of the main Maillot Jaune contenders that comes into the race at 100%. As such, Groupama - FDJ's team boss Marc Madiot is not expecting anything even resembling a general classification fight over the next month.

“The Tour will be over in three or four days,” Madiot says in conversation with French outlet L'Equipe, previewing the 2024 edition of cycling's biggest spectacle. "Pogacar will break things apart and blow out Vingegaard. In his place, that’s what I’d do to be sure he [Vingegaard] doesn’t get back on top form. So in the third week, just like in the Giro d’Italia, they’ll be handing out ‘exit gift vouchers.’"

On his own team, Madiot also commented on the surprise late addition of Lenny Martinez to the team alongside David Gaudu in a two-pronged leadership. “And why not [send Martinez to the Tour]? He was in our long list that we sent to ASO," the Frenchman says. “Race programs aren’t set in stone and we discussed it with the sports directors and with Lenny, who said he wanted to go to the Tour. That was the way the cookie crumbled.”

“We got the green light from the doctor, who said that he had recovered, it was all going fine for him. He hasn’t raced so much. He’s won a lot but he’s not raced so much,” Madiot concludes, not deterred by Martinez's tired display at the recent Tour de Suisse. “Then the Tour de Suisse is one thing, the Tour de France is another. If he ends up being in the gruppetto, it’s not so serious, we just want him to strike some high notes.”