Marc Madiot celebrated France beating England in the football World Cup by singing the French national anthem during Groupama-FDJ’s training camp in Spain,convinced that the arrival of a new wave of talented young riders for 2023 can make his team like the successful French national football team or the ‘total football’ playing Ajax of cycling’s WorldTour.
Madiot has been the head of the French team for 25 years but seems inspired and enthusiastic more than ever as seven neo-pros step up from the Groupama-FDJ Continental development squad. He also has a back bone of successful and experienced riders in Thibaut Pinot, who will target the Giro d’Italia, time trialist and Classics leader Stefan Küng, sprinter Arnaud Démare and climber David Gaudu, who will both ride the Tour de France.
“I like watching football and I wanted to be able to reproduce what FC Nantes, or AJ Auxerre, or Ajax Amsterdam were able to do in their heyday: have an identity, a style. They’re teams that have a plan and mark era,” Madiot told L’Equipe as the French team unveiled their navy blue racing colours and announced their goals for 2023.
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“We’ve gradually created the team that I have dreamt about for twenty years. Having this mix of young talent and experience is like when I was at Renault with Hinault, Fignon, LeMond. We have all the ingredients to go to the top, we have people who have special qualities like Pinot, Démare and Gaudu, and at the same time we have a young wave coming in."
The French squad has become well known for promoting young, internally-developed riders in recent years, with eight men making the jump to the WorldTour since 2019 including Jake Stewart, Kevin Geniets, and Lars van den Berg. Following the promotions of Lewis Askey in January and Paul Penhoët on August 1, the list of 2023 Groupama-FDJ Continental alumni includes 19-year-old Giro della Valle d'Aosta winner Lenny Martinez, fellow teenager Romain Grégoire, under-23 Gent-Wevelgem winner Samuel Watson from Britain, talented Kiwi riders Reuben Thompson and Laurence Pithie, the Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux winne Enzo Paleni and Italian U23 road champion Lorenzo Germani.
Martinez is the son of former pro rider and mountain biker Miguel Martinez and finished on the podium of the U23 Giro d'Italia in his first year in the category.
Grégoire is the reigning Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 winner and took a stage and the points jersey at the U23 Giro, while Watson finished second to Mark Cavendish at the British National Championships. Thompson won the Giro della Valle d'Aosta in 2021 and finished second to Martinez this season, also coming fifth at the U23 Giro, while Pithie triumphed at the Baltic Chain Tour last year and has two wins in 2022.
“With the 'Continental team, we could have claimed to be a candidate for a Grand Tour place,” Madiot boasted of the development team’s quality and UCI points.
“It shows what this team was like this year, with riders aged 19 and 20, with the oldest being 21 years old. I wouldn’t swap any of them for anyone else.
“Now I want to take advantage of their enthusiasm. They already have this philosophy and I’d like to take advantage of it and nurture it. That’s a nice challenge."
Madiot revealed that many of the young riders will make their Grand Tour debut at the 2023 Vuelta a España. Winning is about more than numbers or UCI ranking points.
“We’re talking more about construction. If that translates into twenty-five wins, or fifteen, we'll do the accounts at the end of the season,” he said. “The difference compared to the past is that now we have the ability to assert our ambitions. We’ve got the extra talent to, as they say in football, play our own game.
“Of course at the start of the first race, I’ll be tense. We have to feel the desire to work hard and to progress to where we want to go.”
