After almost 30 years in charge of the Groupama-FDJ team, Marc Madiot is set to step aside as the French squad's team manager in April 2026. Madiot, who created the team in 1997, will be succeeded by his deputy, Thierry Cornec, who has been with the team since 2024.
According to a report in L'Equipe, Madiot will take a more hands-off role, dealing with partners and guiding the team's culture.
“It was time to recharge, open new doors, and move forward. I’ll be 67 in April. I think it’s time to look to the future. Now is the time,” Madiot told L'Equipe.
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“Thierry is taking over all the sporting aspects and becoming the team’s general manager. My ambition is for the team to outlive me. If I can lend a hand in areas other than the sporting side, that suits me just fine. The team is my second child. I love it, I still want to cherish it, but I know it’s now in its majority, that it needs to spread its wings.”
Madiot started the team as La Française des Jeux in 1997, tasting success immediately, with Christophe Mengin taking a stage of the Tour de France and Frédéric Guesdon winning Paris-Roubaix, the last time a home rider won the Hell of the North.
Since then, Groupama-FDJ have remained one of the top-tier's mid-pack teams, continuing to develop, notably adding a hugely successful Continental development team. Though both Madiot and the main sponsor have remained, the sport has changed profoundly since.
“When I started thirty years ago, we were a small shop," Madiot said. "We had eighteen riders and twelve support staff. I knew everyone. Today, we are one hundred and twenty people. I sign contracts with people I don’t know, whom I hire based on their CVs. We were small-scale artisans. It’s becoming a global sport focused on high technology, high performance, and extremely increased resources for some teams.
“When I signed Philippe Gilbert, I got in my car, went to Belgium, talked to the kid and his parents, and came back with a signed contract. Lately, I’ve had contact with juniors who told me, ‘Talk to my agent, sir.’ It’s a different ball game altogether.”
Riding as a professional between 1980 and 1994, Madiot was an accomplished rider, with stage victories at the Tour de France and Tirreno-Adriatico in 1984 and at the following season's Paris-Nice among his successes. However, his most outstanding victories came at Paris-Roubaix, which he won in 1985 and '91. He remains the only rider to have won both the Elite and Espoirs (under-23) races, winning the latter in 1979.
Madiot joins the likes of Patrick Lefevere, Vincent Lavenu and Jean-René Bernadeau as ex-riders turned team managers who have, or are about to retire from the sport.
Charismatic and clearly passionate, Madiot's vocal support for Thibaut Pinot as he rode to victory in stage eight of the 2012 Tour de France, is a lasting memory.
