Pogacar is, as mentioned, the favourite with the bookies ahead of the Tour de France. "I haven’t seen the odds, but judging by what we’ve all observed, you don’t need to be an expert to see that Pogacar is the number-one favourite," Madiot says. "But you always have to be cautious."
"The Tour is three weeks long, full of pitfalls: mountains, time trials, tricky stages, wind, the chaos of the peloton… There are so many variables that you try to manage, but you can never control them all," the experienced Frenchman adds with a word of warning. "There are always uncertainties in racing. So while Pogacar looks strongest on paper, nothing’s ever guaranteed."
For his own team's hopes of glory, Madiot is looking towards
Guillaume Martin. "Like many teams in the middle tier of the WorldTour, our main goal is to win a stage. After that, we want to get as close as possible to the top riders, particularly with Guillaume Martin," he says. "We’ve got a good, well-balanced team and we hope to carry over the momentum from the Tour de Suisse. By combining what we learned from both the Dauphiné and the Suisse, we should be well prepared."
The typical GC leader of Groupama - FDJ,
David Gaudu, might not be in contention however. "We’re not there yet. We’ll take stock after the French National Championships. A David Gaudu at his best can operate at the same level as Guillaume. We’ll see how he’s feeling physically over the next few days and decide accordingly," he concludes. "Yes, we’re starting to form some ideas, but it’s still too early to say anything definitive."