The boss of the Groupama-FDJ team wants to be combative and calm at the dawn of the new cycling season. While his team takes part from February 3 to 7 in the Etoile de Bessèges, the first stage race of the season, he says he is optimistic for French cycling, but sounds the alarm on the arrival of certain practices resulting from soccer.
Should we be worried about cycling at the start of the 2021 season?
MARC MADIOT. I am both convinced of our know-how in this pandemic and aware that we are at the mercy of a deterioration in the health situation. In 2020, we showed that we knew how to manage a health bubble. We haven’t created any clusters. Do you know how much testing we have done in the team? Over 1800! We have a few positive cases, never in competition and we were able to manage the problems. I’ll say it again, but we know how to cycle in the midst of a pandemic.
But can the schedule for the start of the season be turned upside down?
All the organizers are willing to continue in the respect of the bubble and the camera. Look at Paris-Nice, the flagship of the start of the season. It can start again on the models of last year without any difficulty. I have no apprehension about this. In June 2020, we were in doubt. Today, we know how to control. The message to public authorities is simple: trust us!
Did the French teams withstand the crisis better than others?
Yes. Already because the State has helped us with partial unemployment, especially for supervisors. And we were able to build a calendar in the second half of the season. Most of it was provided in 2020. Without this, the situation would have been serious for some teams.
Is the 2020 Groupama-FDJ report a trompe-l’oeil if we only look at the Tour de France?
Newsletter Morning essentials
A tour of the news to start the day
—
Yes. The runner who won the most last year, he is with us and his name is Arnaud Démare (14 achievements). We have 21 successes, which makes us the fourth team in the standings. Not bad for people who haven’t won anything (smile). Afterwards, the collective fall during the first stage of the Tour killed our Tour de France, which did not live up to our ambitions.
In 2021, will you be betting so much on the Tour?
The objective will be to be competitive on the three big Tours and on the entire calendar. We will not focus on a few events or certain runners, but we will have a more collective approach. We will not reason in terms of a leader, but of the team.
The footballers’ agent, Jorge Mendes, who manages Cristiano Ronaldo in particular, lands in cycling with two Portuguese riders. Does that bother you?
I do not know this man, but I wish him to continue his success in football. Not in our sport. The goal of football agents is to rotate their players in as many clubs as possible to make money. I don’t want to end up with a guy on a contract for two or three years who, after six months, wants to go elsewhere. If we end up with a transfer window system in the bike, we are dead. Look at the state of football today. He does not want. It may be an old sportsman of the twentieth century, but I assume. No to the methods of football here.
Why did you quit the presidency of the Cycling League after twelve years?
Because I had done my time and wanted to refocus on my team. I like the idea that there is democracy and there are candidates. For example, it’s good that Cyrille Guimard, if he succeeds ( Editor’s note: he must collect 100 sponsorships from 10 committees by this Thursday ) reports to the Federation. Besides, just two candidates is not enough. We need ideas in an election campaign.
Tadej Pogacar was vaccinated against Covid by his team and not the French. Does that bother you?
No. He had this possibility, so much the better for him. If at home tomorrow, athletes are put forward in a vaccination campaign, I will be delighted. But I’m not asking for anything. Personally, I hope to be vaccinated as soon as possible ( Editor’s note: he is 61 years old ). The day I am told to go, I stretch my shoulder.
The new generation (Pogacar, Van Aert, Van der Poel), has it already widened an irremediable gap with its predecessors?
Look at the history of the bicycle. Nothing is ever irreversible. The wheel spins fast. We witnessed a great flight of young sparrows but the old birds of prey have not said their last word!
–
