Opening Weekend has been and gone and the Classics season is now properly underway. We saw big names celebrating big wins in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday for Mathieu van der Poel and Demi Vollering, and Britain's own Matthew Brennan taking his second win of the season at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne the following day.

But those weren't the only races on the calendar, and anyone able to look beyond the noise and fanfare of Opening Weekend, would have spotted other riders notching up some impressive results.

A gift for dad from Paul Seixas

If the 19-year-old phenom was hoping to slip into success under the radar, he should probably alter his approach. Paul Seixas's 42km solo breakaway to win the hilly Faun Ardeche Classic in the south of France had echoes of Tadej Pogačar and had French media shouting from the rooftops. "Incredible… what a performance," trumpeted L'Équipe, who put him on the front page of the print version.

It was no soft win either – the Decathlon CMA CGM rider outgunned a strong field that included Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and more.

The Lyonnais rider said he struggled at times but kept in mind his family at the finish line: "It was tough — in the Val d’Enfer I was struggling at times, but I pushed myself to keep the rhythm. I was thinking about my family at the finish line; it was my dad’s birthday. It was crazy — I could hardly believe it. It was an incredible day, and the team did a fantastic job."

France has been historically rather good at building up its promising talents to the point where the pressure becomes too much to bear, and judging by the first reader comment on the L'Équipe story, may need to rein itself in a little where Seixas is concerned. "This kid is going to sweep the whole country," they wrote. "It's written in the stars. And to hell with the naysayers! For those of us who, as kids, experienced the Tour de France with a French winner, there's something truly moving about witnessing the emergence of such a French champion."

Then again, going on the Decathlon CMA CGM rider's results so far, who are we to argue?

Romain Grégoire has his say

France had more to celebrate in the Faun Ardèche's sister race, the Faun Drôme Classic, the following day. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) outsprinted breakaway partner Jorgenson as the chasing group bore down on them from behind.

With both Faun races contested by many of the same riders, 23-year-old French rider Grégoire – the winner of Faun Ardèche last year and a former Tour of Britain winner – had finished 22nd the previous day and Jorgenson fourth. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) led in the chase group, just two seconds later.

It was the first win of a season that has begun well for Besançon rider Grégoire. He was third on a stage at the Vuelta a Andalucia and finished fifth on GC.

Charlotte Kool opens up

The move to new team Fenix-Premier Tech seems to be working for Dutch rider Charlotte Kool, who opened her account for the team at the Omloop het van Hageland on Sunday. One of the best sprinters in the women's peloton, Kool led home the bunch sprint at the end of the 148km Belgian race – perhaps garnering a little extra motivation from the fact that the race was sponsored, like her team, by Fenix.

Kool has experienced health struggles, and notched up just one win last year – rather unaccustomed for a rider who just a couple of years back ended the season sitting on a dozen victories. She transferred from Picnic PostNL to Fenix-Deceuninck mid-season and this early victory will be a welcome confidence boost that she will take forward into the Classics.

Wilier Triestina’s latest pro-level offering, the Filante SLR ID2, takes an already competitive road race bike, and promises significant aerodynamic advantages, delivered in partnership with Groupama - FDJ Cycling Team. The Italian designed bike, whose aerodynamics were verified in the Silverstone tunnel here in the UK, claims to deliver 4.5% reduction in drag over the outgoing model, with a rider on board.

Their white paper describes how testing at the Silverstone wind tunnel revealed a 13.6% reduction in drag for the bike alone, outperforming the expected 12% reduction based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations overall. This is no small feat, as real-world testing often yields less optimistic results. The bike achieves a 4.5% improvement in aerodynamic resistance compared to its predecessor, the Filante SLR ID1. Which means, for riders maintaining a speed of 40 km/h, this translates to a power saving of 14.15 watts, which if true, is substantial in a race scenario.

To put this in context, over a 70 km distance at a consistent effort of 290 watts, riders can expect to finish 1 minute and 45 seconds faster with the ID2 compared to the ID1. In the cutthroat environment of WorldTour races, where seconds can decide outcomes, these enhancements could provide critical advantages. Furthermore, direct comparisons with five competitor bikes showed the Filante SLR ID2 to have an average aerodynamic resistance coefficient that was 2.42% better than the five nearest "top of the range Worldtour" competitors.

A standout feature of the Filante SLR ID2 is the newly developed Aerokit system, developed with hydration experts Elite, who already make some of our favourite cage and water bottle systems, which addresses one of the trickiest areas in aero bike design: the down tube. By minimising the aerodynamic drag and reducing the exposure of water bottles to airflow, the Aerokit is designed to not only enhance performance but also integrates seamlessly with the bike’s aesthetic. With a total capacity of 1100 ml, the system is designed to function as a spoiler, stabilising airflow around the frame, measures which they claim can reduce drag by over two-thirds compared to traditional hydration systems. Interestingly, the improvements claim to deliver savings, even with round bottles. Essential in a stage racing scenario, where riders will need to refill with normal bottles.

The cockpit is also new, called the F-Bar ID2 cockpit, which Willier claims, offers a “tailored ergonomic experience for cyclists”. The bars do flare, with what Willier is calling an “Optimized Ergonomic Flare (O.E.F.), which they say, “enhances grip comfort without sacrificing aerodynamics”.

The fork has come in for some extensive work, although the changes aren’t blindingly obvious. The fork uses an external NACA sourced profile, with a flat internal face to reduce interactions and smooth air over the components of the wheel. There is also a new fin which shields the disc brake caliper hardware from the airflow and a closed axle design. Willier also claims to have improved the responsiveness of the fork, with improvements to the steerer cone coming into the crown. The previous version had a very stiff front end, and further stiffness here wasn’t required, so it will be interesting to see if the overall affect of the changes improves things here when we ride it. They also claim a 5.2% increase in bottom bracket stiffness over the outgoing model.

Other improvements to the seat post clamp, flushing that into the frame and out of the airflow and even a focus on redesigning the power meter magnet, to get that out of the airflow, contribute to the impressive aero claims.

The vast majority of the work appears to have been acheived at the front end and leading edges, where the headtube’s leading edge is similar to the outgoing version, but tapers back and narrows to keep more air attached for longer. Interestingly, the seat stays have been inclined 2.5 degrees, to smooth turbulent air leaving the bottles and riders legs, and they say this has improved efficiency at the rear end.

Stack and reach is ever so slightly longer and lower, at 559mm and 393mm respiectively, with a slight increase in the length of the rear end and overall wheelbase. Willier says this is to improve stability, but it also seems likely it's been done to accommodate the slightly improved capacity for wider tyres, up to 34mm in the new bike.

The bike ships with Miche Kleos 50mm deep wheelsets, in FD or standard trim. Prices for frame only are €5,800 (£5055.57 at today's exchange rate). No dollar pricing was provided.

Full builds can be specced with SRAM Force upwards, or Ultegra upwards, with power meter options. Pricing starts at €9,900 rising to €13,100 for a Campagnolo Super Record 13 equipped version.

The bike follows many high-end road bike launches this year where the outgoing bike has formed the solid base for incremental developments that feed into the new bike. We have requested a bike for review, and will report on our findings as soon as we have tested it.

Lapierre, one of France’s biggest bike brands, are to make a return to professional cycling’s top level next year to become Picnic PostNL’s new bike partner.

The team, formerly known as dsm-firmenich PostNL, were believed to have a contract with Scott for 2025, but Lapierre are present on the front of the team's new jersey, and the new partnership was announced on Thursda.

Sources had previously said that several staff members at the Dutch team’s base were openly discussing that Lapierre will join the team next year as bike partner.

The squad announced their new name on Thursday, along with a new kit, with that Lapierre logo. Riders will use the brand new Xelius DRS performance bike for all road events, and the Aerostorm DRS for time trials, in a deal that lasts four years.

The switch to Lapierre comes despite the fact that new Scott Addict bikes had arrived at the team’s service course in the Netherlands, with up to 15 bikes said to have then been built for riders like Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil. CW saw images of the new Addict being built, although it is understood that the bikes were not then shipped out to riders ahead of the new season.

It is the first time Scott have not been present on the WorldTour since 2011, with the bike brand partnered with the various GreenEDGE squads between 2012 and 2020. Scott supplied bikes to dsm-firmenich PostNL for the last four seasons.

A spokesperson for the Accell Group, the parent company of Lapierre, did not deny the link to dsm-firmenich PostNL when contacted by Cycling Weekly last month. The firm’s COO Jonas Nillson was also reported to have been in the Netherlands recently for meetings.

On Thursday, Accell's CEO, Tjeerd Jegen, said: "We’re confident that this partnership will lead to extraordinary success both on and off the road, advancing our brand in the competitive world of professional cycling and inspiring cyclists everywhere. This is how we move the company forward and bring great innovation to life. We look forward to achieving new milestones together."

Picnic PostNL's CEO Iwan Spekenbrink: "We are delighted to partner with Accell and Lapierre and are impressed by their recent development to become future proof in what has been a challenging cycling manufacturing industry for the last years.

"We share a mindset regarding our commitments to technology, innovation and performance. Our R&D experts are looking forward to working closely with their engineering and technical specialists to integrate input and feedback in the development of the next generation of our road bikes, which we will already see out on the road mid-next year."

Lapierre never shied away from their desire to make a comeback by partnering with a major team after the brand’s long-standing partnership with Groupama-FDJ ended in 2023. The two French outfits had collaborated for 22 years, although that came to an end when Groupama moved to Willier Triestina in the leadup to the 2024 season. However, this move has seemingly come out of the blue.

According to Wielerflits last month, Lapierre’s move to partner with the Dutch team was in part due to the brand wishing to get rid of surplus stock.

If you're travelling to the Tour de France this July, and in need of a dining companion, Groupama FDJ's manager Marc Madiot is available, at a price. 

The French team is running a number of auctions during this year's race, offering race-worn jerseys, signed dossard numbers, and an eye-catching flagship lot – a dinner with Madiot.

The winner will spend an evening at the squad's hotel with the team manager, "in direct proximity to the riders", and will also receive a tour of the team's bus. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Madiot explained that he has already hosted similar experiences twice before. Does he like doing it? "Yes," he said. "Not every day, but every now and again it's not bad."

Last year, the Frenchman remembers, he and the lucky winner "spent the evening in a nice Parisian restaurant". The meal this time round will take place in Nîmes, on the evening of stage 16, and the winner will be allowed to bring a guest. 

During last year's Tour, Groupama-FDJ's mealtimes were drawn into controversy, when Jumbo-Visma manager Richard Plugge claimed he saw "a French team" drinking "big beers" on the rest day in their hotel. Groupama-FDJ were understood to be the only French squad staying in the same place. 

"Alcohol is poison," Plugge said, "and when you are already tired, it'll make you even more fatigued."

Madiot later responded to the comments, calling them "shabby", and saying he "didn't give a damn about what he [Plugge] says." He also corrected his Jumbo-Visma counterpart, adding that his riders were actually drinking Perrier water. 

At the end of the race in Paris, Madiot mocked the exchange, holding a fan sign that read ‘a little beer for Jumbo’. He told Cycling Weekly that the winner of the latest auction will receive the same hospitality. 

"There's always a beer for the winner," he smiled. "And, of course, there's always wine."

The lot is currently live on the website of online auction house Catawiki, with the highest bid at €450 (£381). It closes this Sunday 7 July. 

The site is also offering two further experiences with Madiot, each comprising a "day at the heart of the Tour de France" alongside the Frenchman in his pre-race car. One of the lots is for stage 12, between Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot, and the other for stage 16 to Nîmes. 

To bid on the lots, and win a chance to share a bottle of wine with Madiot, visit the Catawiki website. 

The Tour Down Under has been and gone in a blur and the racing season has well and truly kicked off for 2024. 

Hot on the back of all of the racing action in Oz was the Challenge Mallorca series. The likes of the Trofeo Calvià often fly under the radar once some of the bigger one-day affairs get going, but the early season races still provide plenty of exciting talking points.

The racing we’ve seen so far hasn’t disappointed from a British perspective, especially. We’ve seen young riders flourishing and others continuing to prove themselves which has resulted in plenty of wins so far. 

Many of the general classification heavy weights - the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar - are yet to enter the fray but despite their absence, the action has been memorable. 

Here are five things we learned from the opening round of WorldTour action. 

Groupama-FDJ and Willier seems to be the perfect match

French team Groupama-FDJ inked a new bike partnership deal with Italian brand Wilier Triestina last winter bringing an end to the team’s long standing association with home brand Lapierre. 

The new partnership has already got off to a superb start, with the team taking two solid wins in the space of just a few hours on opposite sides of the world. 

Kiwi rider Laurence Pithie took his first ever WorldTour win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia and that was followed up just a few hours later by Kevin Geniets on home soil for the team. The Luxembourger triumphed in a two-up sprint with Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to win the GP La Marseillaise in southern France. 

Geniets win capped a remarkable 24 hours for Marc Madiot’s outfit. The team’s general manager will be keeping everything crossed that his riders can keep the hot streak going.

Celebrating early will always cost you

Celebrating early, whatever sport you’re taking part in, is rarely a good idea until you’ve seen the job through. 

Julian Alaphilippe is probably the most high profile example of that in cycling. The Frenchman, resplendent in his first world champion’s rainbow jersey, celebrated too early during the final sprint for the line at the 2020 Liège–Bastogne–Liège. 

Alaphilippe thought he had just edged out his rivals to the line, sat up to punch the air, and was then dramatically pipped to the post by Primož Roglič who stole the win from under his nose. 

Emil Herzog then suffered similar embarrassment last weekend in the Trofeo Palma race of the Challenge Mallorca. The Bora-Hansgrohe man launched what he thought was a late attack for the line and the subsequent victory, temporarily forgetting that there was still another lap of the course and roughly ten kilometres to go. 

Awkward indeed. 

Sarah Gigante is proof that you should never give up  

Forging a career in the top echelons of professional cycling can be brutal, just like it would be in most other sports. 

Riders can experience so many false starts or opportunities that don’t come to anything, or a minor injury or crash can suddenly see any hope of a career in the WorldTour go out of the window. A perfect example of that in the men’s peloton is James Shaw and Sarah Gigante’s story is a similar example within the women’s WorldTour. 

Widely considered the next big thing in Australian cycling, Gigante burst onto the scene in 2019, winning the elite women’s road race ahead of substantial competition including Amanda Spratt at just 19-years-old. 

After further success, a contract with Movistar soon followed. Unfortunately a series of injuries and health issues followed which, coupled with not being utilised in the best possible way by the Spanish squad, ultimately brought an end to her time on the team. 

Transferring to AG Insurance-Soudal was the answer. As we saw in Australia, that new environment and fresh opportunity to show what she could do ultimately breathed life back into the 23-year-olds promising career and that resulted in an impressive win at the Tour Down Under on Willunga Hill. 

Simon Carr continues to shine

EF Education-EasyPost’s Simon Carr continued to make a name for himself on hilly terrain with an impressive victory in the Trofeo Calvià. 

The British climber got the better of Aleksandr Vlasov and other solid competition to land the win in the opening race of the Challenge Mallorca. The most impressive aspect of his performance was that Carr was the first man to attack and the first man over the line to seal the sixth win of his career so far. 

Despite being out front since the very early stages of the 150 kilometre one day race, Carr still had enough gas left in the tank to outsprint Vlasov as the two riders tore into the finishing straight. 

Carr took his first GC stage race win last year, winning the Tour de Langkawi in south east Asia to wrap up a solid season. The 25-year-old also won a stage of the Tour of the Alps in the spring but missed out on riding any of the Grand Tours. 

If he continues his solid start to the campaign, Carr may well force his way into EF’s line up for one of the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia or Vuelta a España in 2024. 

Stevie Williams is still one to watch

Israel-Premier Tech’s Stevie Williams is a man on the up and will enter the European calendar with a spring in his step, and rightly so. 

Due to circumstances beyond his control, Williams’ career was slightly stop start in the beginning but the 27-year-old has seemingly finally found his groove at his current team. 

The Welshman’s overall win at the Tour Down Under was a superb example of perseverance and solid race craft in order to land the overall title. 

Capping it off with a stage win in the leader’s jersey was the cherry on the cake and proof that Williams is certainly more than capable of going toe to toe with riders who on paper may seem his superior. 

Williams inked a contract extension with his squad late last year and impressed at the Tour of Britain for the Great Britain Cycling team in September. His form in Australia was a good indication of what’s still to come from the man from Aberystwyth later on in the season. 

Groupama FDJ’s Rudy Molard has said that he has no memory of being involved in a heavy crash on stage three of the Tour Down Under which landed him in hospital. 

The Frenchman was one of many riders that was unable to finish the third stage of the men’s WorldTour curtain raiser in Adelaide due to hitting the tarmac. He suffered a concussion, which has meant he is unable to head home.

Shortly after the stage had finished, Molard shared an update on his condition on social media. He posted a photo on Instagram which showed he had suffered some facial injuries, as well as road rash, with a brief caption which said the crash “could have been worse”. 

A further update from Molard, shared by his team on Thursday, explained that he had been forced to stay in Australia to fully recover due to being too unwell to travel home to France after the race had concluded. 

“After my crash on the Tour Down Under, I spent 48 hours in hospital,” he said. “I was put under general anaesthetic to clean my wounds and have my dressings changed, so I wouldn’t suffer too much. 

“The wounds are still superficial, although the one’s on my hands are really bothering me. The concussion, on the other hand, is really annoying. I’ve got headaches and I’m tired. I wasn’t able to make the journey back to France, so I’m recovering here in Australia with the team.” 

He continued: “I’d never had a concussion before, so I know risks are not to be taken lightly. I have no memory of the crash, which is quite significant. My overall condition is improving, and it’s incredible to see how quickly the wounds on my face have progressed. 

“It puts the brakes on the first part of my season. I felt fit and capable of performing. Today, it’s still too early to say what my recovery programme will be. I’m going to concentrate on recovering well and come back with even more motivation.” 

Australian national champion Luke Plapp was also involved in a crash on the third stage which left him with severe road rash. The Jayco AlUla rider managed to finish the stage but was unable to start the fourth stage the following morning. 

Welshman Stevie Williams won the race overall. It was the 27-year-old’s first WorldTour GC win. 

Groupama-FDJ riders are to climb aboard Willier Triestina bikes from 2024, after the French team ended its 22-year-long partnership with Lapierre.

How the bikes will look will be unveiled on the 1 January, potentially alongside the squad's new kit, but FDJ will ride the Willier Filante SLR, already ridden by Astana Qazaqstan in the WorldTour, alongside the Willier Turbine SLR for time trials.

The Italian bike company is already present in cycling's highest level through its partnership with Astana, which dates from 2020. Previously, the brand had also been a title sponsor for Italian Pro Conti team Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia, which ceased to exist in 2021.

Lapierre made the decision to end the partnership between itself and Groupama-FDJ at the end of this year, with Elisa Madiot-Gagnier, the head of partner and institutional relations, saying that the brand would take a "different road next year", after their contract ended. They will still supply bikes for the FDJ-Suez women's team in 2024.

Willier's decision to sponsor Groupama-FDJ as well as Astana-Qazaqstan makes it the third bike brand to sponsor more than one team on the WorldTour, after Canyon (with Movistar and Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Specialized (Bora-Hansgrohe and Soudal Quick-Step).

16 races were won by Astana aboard the bikes in 2023, with one WorldTour win through Mark Cavendish. Groupama-FDJ will seek to add to that next year, as a team with a fresh look, thanks to the retirement of Thibaut Pinot and departure of Arnaud Démare.

The length of the contract was not divulged in the announcement, but was said to be a "multi-year technical sponsorship agreement". Andrea Gastaldello, Willier's executive chairman, described the deal as  the "start of a new era" and an "important new beginning". Gastaldello welcomed the partnership along with his brothers and partners Enrico and Michele.

Marc Madiot, the team boss of Groupama-FDJ, said that it was the "start of a great adventure".

"I am delighted and honoured to announce today that Wilier Triestina has joined the Groupama-FDJ cycling Team family as an Official Partner," the Frenchman said. "This is the start of a great adventure with a renowned Italian company that has left its mark on the history of cycling. 

"Their enthusiasm and the quality of their technical and engineering teams immediately echoed the standards and attention we pay every day to the quest for the highest performance. 

"The spirit of all our technical partnerships is to develop together and use our respective expertise to move up the range, and that's what appealed to us about Wilier Triestina's approach. Together, we're going to write a new page in the History of Groupama-FDJ cycling Team and showcase these new machines on the road from the very first day of the 2024 season."

Groupama-FDJ and Willier Triestina partnering up is just the latest on the French team and bike brand merry-go-round, with AG2R Citroën swapping BMC for Decathlon's Van Rysel next season, and TotalEnergies switching out Specialized for ENVE.

Very few people come into professional cycling not wanting to triumph; almost all emerge from the junior ranks as serial winners, comfortably the best at age levels.

However, sport is often about finding your role in a bigger puzzle, and, more often than not, that means helping someone else win rather than chasing victory yourself. Very few people get to be serial winners.

In 2024, Jake Stewart won't just be changing teams - big in itself - but roles, becoming a leadout man rather than a sprinter, in recognition that that is where his talent and his future lies.

The Englishman is a fast finisher, someone who has won races as a professional, but accepts that his place is to help someone else win sprints, rather than doing so himself in the future. To that end, he has left Groupama-FDJ after six years, and will ride for Israel-Premier Tech next season.

"I'm going there as a Classics leader, and then going into the sprint leadout train with Ethan [Vernon]," he told Cycling Weekly last week. "It's where I wanted my career to go. I realised, I knew myself that I wasn't fast enough to be a bunch sprinter and win those bunch finishes on my own, but I have the power and characteristics to be a good leadout rider. 

"I've grown up with Ethan, he lives 20 minutes down the road from me, we train a lot together and when we were discussing things with Israel, we [Stewart and Vernon] have the friendship and the trust with each other. We're already 90% of the way to winning races, the remaining 10% is legs and how you go in the race. 

"That was a big influence in the move, to go there and do leadout with Ethan. Also having flexibility and freedom in the Classics, and having a team which will support me."

Stewart is a very versatile rider, good at lots of things, from Classics to short stage races - he finished second at Omloop het Nieuwsblad in 2021, third overall at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque in 2022 - but sees now that he is not to be a specialist sprinter.

He won't just be a leadout man, a co-leader at the Classics for Israel-Premier Tech too, along with the likes of Hugo Hofstetter; the squad might be a ProTeam, but has invited to all WorldTour races in 2024. 

It's a big move for the man who spent two years at under-23 level with Groupama's continental team before turning pro with them in 2020.

"It's a big step I guess, it's the same in many walks of life, changing jobs," Stewart said. "It's a big step in reality too. It's gonna be interesting, but I'm really excited to work with new people and work with new ideas. 

"It's a very different environment, moving away from a French squad, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that. The culture at the new team seems really vibrant."

While there was success at Groupama for Stewart, it was also a tumultuous time with injury and illness affecting him. The 24-year-old feels like it is time for a fresh start.

"I felt I needed to move on, and go somewhere different find the joy in riding again and the motivation," he explained. "It's a shame to go, because it's the team I grew up with, and there's a lot of good memories and friendships there. But in the end, it was the right thing to do to progress as a rider."

As well as bringing in Stewart, and Vernon for the sprints Israel-Premier Tech have signed Pascal Ackermann and Michael Schwarzmann as another sprinter/leadout man combination, George Bennett from UAE Team Emirates, and Hofstetter back from Arkéa-Samsic.

"Israel have put a big shift on trying to get younger riders in the team, and that's really exciting," Stewart said. "There's a wealth of experience and talent already there, and with the likes of Schwarzmann and Ackermann coming in as well, it will be interesting to work alongside them, there's a lot to learn."

He might no longer be riding as a nominated sprinter, but Stewart will be hoping to win all the same, as a collective now.

Come Saturday evening, Thibaut Pinot will no longer be a professional bike rider. The man from Haute-Saône in eastern France will climb off his bike after Il Lombardia, conduct his last post-race interviews, take off his kit one final time, shower, and then cease to be a cyclist. Come Sunday, the 33-year-old will likely already be back home, at his farm, preparing to live his new life with his goats.

Not simply exist, though, in a post-cycling haze, but actually live his life, have fun, relish his rural actuality. As he told French newspaper Libération, at the Tour of Luxembourg last month: “I am finally going to enjoy my life.”

Some seek fame; others have fame thrust upon them. The Groupama-FDJ rider was very much the latter, he never did understand his fame. In that same Libé interview, the Frenchman expresses his bemusement at the love fans have shown him over his career: “I can’t understand. I don’t really have an answer to all that.”

The thing is, Pinot does engender a fierce adoration, a respect, even sympathy, from his fans, even if it is not wanted, or at least not demanded. Unlike others at the top of the sport, he shows how he really feels, from his suffering to his adulation, it is all there to see. 

What he inspires is not the shallow adulation of social media either, but a tangible effervescence on the roadside. Thibaut Pinot is something else; people can watch the best riders in the world ride past and contain themselves, but lose themselves in his presence.

I was there, at the Tour of the Alps in 2022, when in a typical attack, Pinot launched himself clear, spending 74km up the road alone, in search of a win that he hoped would soothe the pain of having gone without one since 2019. However, he did not count on other riders having a say. Inevitably, he was caught and dropped by Miguel Ángel López, crushing his dream of turning a "s***ty page" in his career.

He sat there, on the side of the road, in the quiet Austrian Alpine village of Kals am Großglockner, sat back against the metal barrier, distraught. While other riders would have gone straight to the bus, Pinot remained there, staring into space. Would that win have truly made him fall back in love with cycling? It's doubtful. While he won the next day, the image of him heartbroken will live longer in my memory than of him winning.

He hasn't won this year, but it was never about that with Pinot. With him the losses almost seemed more important than the wins. The pain and heartbreak, so evident to see, made the wins, when they came mean something. 

It's not that we enjoyed seeing him miss out, lose, but it was perhaps easier to relate to. Who among us doesn't carry upon our person the brand of the pain of falling short of our ambitions? It's the reason the blues persists, the reason bleak films and fiction exist, it's the reason the sad music of artists like boygenius or Nick Cave can fill arenas.

But, in sport that alone is not enough, there must also be hope and Pinot provided regular doses. In 2023 he came close again and again at the Giro d'Italia, finishing second on two stages, living up to his moniker as the nearly man, allowing him to show his emotion on repeat. 

It was the same at the Tour de France, where he was in the breakaway five times, including one last time on stage 20 to Le Markstein. He rolled the dice one last time, made the breakaway, attacked with 31km to go, only to be caught with 13km still to race. He finished seventh. One more near miss, for the king of near misses.

On one bend on the Petit Ballon there was a whole Pinot fan club, hordes of fans crying out for their hero - the stage was close to his home - and it felt like the perfect send off.

Not that Pinot likes meeting his adoring public: “I think I am more stressed to see them than they are to meet me."

“Thibaut Pinot is a unique rider," his team boss, Marc Madiot explained that day, barely drawing a breath over the next paragraph. "He’s a unique rider because, when you look at his palmarès, it’s a few lines on a sheet of paper. But each line has a meaning, a story. Why is there so much emotion today? Well, quite simply because I think he’s an authentic rider. He lays himself bare, he shows everyone what he’s about. 

"Sometimes I’ve even called him up on it and said, ‘You’re giving too much of yourself.’ But actually, it’s what has created his strength and his popularity with the fans. Thibaut never pretends. When you’re with him every day in the team, it’s not always easy, because you feel his torment and difficulty along with him. But conversely when he goes on the hunt for success, he carries you in his arms. 

"It’s really, really, really unique. When people make rankings of the best riders in history, Pinot won’t be there. But he’ll be remembered as one of the most real riders.”

Pinot probably won't win Il Lombardia on Saturday, although he did win it in 2018, one of the crowning achievements of his career. It's crucial not to forget he won 33 races, was the best young rider at the Tour de France, finished on the podium of the same race, won the mountains jersey at the Giro. He has been a great rider.

However, his position in the sport has been elevated through his near-misses, his attempts, and the fact that he has been so emotive through it all.

As Madiot put it: “We can think: it wasn’t always easy. But we lived it.”

Pinot is not the only rider retiring this weekend; Paris-Tours sees the end of the careers of Greg van Avermaet and Tony Gallopin. Just last weekend Peter Sagan stepped off his bike for a final time. Pinot's departure feels different though, the end of an era of riders showing how they really feel, perhaps the last of the great emoters in the sport of cycling. We live in an age of media-trained automatons to which the man from the Haut-Saône did not belong, could not belong.

Farewell, Thibaut. I hope the extra time with the goats brings you happiness. 

French sprinter Arnaud Démare was left devastated after being snubbed by Groupama-FDJ for the team’s Tour de France squad for the second year in a row, and confirmed he will leave the team at the end of the season.

In an interview with L’Equipe at the Tour de Suisse, Démare voiced frustration at missing out and said he had been made aware of his omission by general manager Marc Madiot last week. He also confirmed that he would be leaving Groupama-FDJ at the end of the season after being deemed surplus to requirements by Madiot.

"I'm angry and disheartened because I worked for this, and I made concessions this winter knowing that I would only have one teammate with me for the sprints," Démare said.

"Normally, when they tell me I'm not doing the Tour, it's in December, and you don't speak of preparation. This time, I was on the Tour," he added. "My close ones had booked holidays around the Tour, my wife had reserved hotel rooms to come on the rest days. I don't know what I'm going to do [instead]. I don't know. I'll look at the results but I'm going to feel sick watching stages finish in sprints."

Thibaut Pinot has been given a place in the team’s lineup in support of their general classification hope David Gaudu, although Démare has been forced to sit out once more. 

According to reports, Démare had been initially pencilled in as a possibility for Tour selection over the winter. However, that idea then created a stir within the team with Gaudu revealing that he was against it.

In an online chat room conversation - which was leaked in January - Gaudu explained that he and the sprinter did not see eye to eye.

“He knows I don’t want him at the Tour,” Gaudu wrote. “I’ve already told him.”

Gaudu would eventually issue an apology for his comments.

The 31-year-old sprinter has previously made five appearances at the French Grand Tour, winning two stages in the process. He explained to L’Equipe that he had also been informed he would not be retained at the end of the year by Madiot at a race earlier in the season.

"This was the second hard blow," Démare said. "At the Boucles de la Mayenne, [Madiot] announced that it was the end with the Groupama. Not in so many words, but I understood that it was all over. He told me: 'We can't keep you.' And that's it."
 

Démare has spent his entire career with Groupama and admitted he had been left stunned by the news from Madiot.

"I wanted to have the choice [to continue]. It was perhaps already a message last year when they took apart my lead-out train,” he added. “I could feel there was less enthusiasm for sprinting but I thought that they'd give me the choice, that I mattered in their eyes.

"I was part of the foundation of the team. We did exceptional things together," he said. "We made sporting memories and life memories. It is my life. To sweep away 12 years like that..."

In an announcement earlier this week confirming the first five riders of the team's Tour selection, Madiot said that FDJ will travel to the start in Bilbao with Gaudu set to lead the team’s general classification charge. Meanwhile Pinot will make his tenth and final Tour appearance before retirement with the goal of targeting stage wins on the mountainous route.

Madiot also confirmed that Valentin Madouas, Kevin Geniets and Stefan Küng will all travel, with the remaining three riders to be announced closer to the Grand Départ.

He explained that leaving Démare out hadn’t been a straightforward decision.

“It was a difficult selection to make, especially the decision not to select Arnaud Démare. I can understand his disappointment," Madiot said. "I have affinities with the riders, but the interests of the team have to come first. It's a sporting choice. I'm here to decide which team I think is the most competitive. There are strengths and weaknesses. I take responsibility for those choices."

David Gaudu is one of the top French riders, although he has never quite matched his promise.

A climber by trade, the 28-year-old has ridden for one team throughout his entire professional career, Groupama-FDJ, wearing the squad's tricolour jersey to stage victories at the Vuelta a España and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

In 2022, the Frenchman claimed an impressive career-best finish at the Tour de France, placing fourth, and goes into most editions with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders. Last year, he won a stage of the Vuelta a España for the first time in five years, an emotional occassion.

Here are 21 things you probably didn't know about Gaudu.

1. Gaudu was born in Landivisiau, in the French cycling heartlands of Brittany. He is part of a long line of Breton riders, which includes five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, three-time winner Louison Bobet and 2017 polka dot jersey winner Warren Barguil.

2. He was a very active child. "I was a real pain in the ass," he once said in an interview. "I was always up to no good at home. I used to run around everywhere. I was almost always injured. I'd run into doors and have to go to A&E."

3. His father was a tiler and a keen mountain biker.

4. Gaudu joined his first cycling club, la Landivisienne Cycliste, when he was just 6 years old.

5. His childhood rival was Valentin Madouas, who he started racing against when he was nine. The duo are now teammates at Groupama-FDJ.

6. In 2013, he was forced to withdraw from the Classique des Alpes Juniors when an errant cat ran out between his wheels on a descent. The Frenchman was leading the race at the time, but crashed heavily and abandoned.

7. Gaudu has an impressive VO2max, meaning he can consume oxygen at a high rate. When he was 18 years old, he scored a result of 92ml/min/kg, putting him in the top tier of Grand Tour riders. "I have never seen anything like it," his Groupama-FDJ sports director Frédéric Grappe said.

8. He won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2016. The event is considered the most prestigious under-23 stage race on the calendar, with winners including Tour de France champions Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogačar.

9. Also in 2016, Gaudu won the Course de la Paix and was awarded the coveted Vélo d'Or prize for the best under-23 rider.

10. He took his first professional victory at the 2017 Tour de l'Ain, aged 20. Having broken away with teammate Thibaut Pinot, the duo rode in tandem to the line, where Pinot gifted Gaudu the win.

11. Two years later, Gaudu was Pinot's key mountain domestique at the 2019 Tour de France, setting a wicked pace for his compatriot to win on the Col du Tourmalet on stage 14.

12. He has finished on the podium of a Monument once, placing third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021, behind Julian Alaphilippe and the winner Pogačar.

13. Gaudu wears glasses in everyday life, and uses prescription lenses in his cycling sunglasses, provided by the team sponsor Julbo.

14. He is a keen streamer, and live broadcasts himself talking and playing cycling video games on Twitch and Discord.

15. After the 2022 Tour de France, Gaudu streamed an almost three-hour-long debrief on Twitch, talking through the stages and offering his insights, all the while sat in his gaming chair.

16. He was involved in a controversy on the streaming site Discord in January 2023, when he criticised his former teammate Arnaud Démare in a series of text-based messages with fans. “I don’t want him to come to the Tour,” Gaudu wrote. “The good thing is we don’t speak and we almost never race together.” He later apologised for his remarks.

17. He has a dog - a female Siberian husky called Houna - who has different coloured eyes, one blue and one brown.

18. The Frenchman enjoys trail running and finished fifth in a 34km race in December 2022, completing the Menestrail course in Moncontour, France in 2 hours, 56 minutes and 58 seconds.

19. He is an Olympian, and represented France in the men's road race at the Tokyo Games in 2021. He finished seventh.

20. After the 2020 UAE Tour was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, Gaudu and his Groupama-FDJ team were one of three squads forced to remain in quarantine in their hotel in Abu Dhabi. They ended up confined for around 10 days.

21. He has a higher education diploma in accounting and business management.

Thibaut Pinot's personalised Lapierre Xelius SL3 from last year's Vuelta a España is one of 15 objects open for bids online auctioneers Catawiki.

The unique model, which contains the locations of the retiring Frenchman's most iconic wins on the top tube, has been put up for auction by his Groupama-FDJ team.

Bidding currently stands at €1,850, although the Dura-Ace equipped bike is expected to reach a much higher figure; the expert estimate assigned to the bike, is anywhere between €12,500 to €20,000. The new owner can collect the bike from Paris, and have their new bike adjusted by a team mechanic, but the buyer could also just leave it to Pinot's specifications.

The bike is just one of the items for sale. Tobias Ludvigsson's Lapierre from last year is also for sale, as is race-worn clothing from Pinot, Stefan Küng, David Gaudu and Arnaud Démare.

Bidders can also aim for a bottle of Prosecco won by Démare at the 2020 Giro d'Italia, one of Démare's signed ciclamino jerseys celebrating his record for wins by a Frenchman at the race, and a pink bottle produced for Attila Valter during his time in pink at the 2021 Giro.

Two leaders jerseys worn by Australian time trialist Bradley McGee at the Giro in 2004 and the Vuelta in 2005 are also up for sale.

It is not the end of FDJ's auctions, with three more coming in 2023 for "objects specifically celebrating the team's most legendary races including Paris-Roubaix, the Giro and the Tour de France". In a later auction, people can also bid on what could be the experience of a lifetime: "To spend a day with Groupama-FDJ team manager Marc Madiot during a live Tour de France stage as he interacts with the team, gaining intimate behind the scenes access to the race."

On 15 April, this coming Saturday, fans can visit the House of Catawiki, the platform's first event in Paris at 3537, in the Marais.

"We are very happy to start this new experience with Catawiki," Madiot said. "Through the objects we propose, we want to share with cycling lovers moments of our team's life, memories that are dear to our hearts. The closeness and the attachment with the followers, with those who accompany and support us every day, at home or on the side of the road, is what has been driving us for 27 years. 

"We hope that the lots offered at this sale, but also in all those to come, will please our supporters and allow them to take home a little of the soul of our team. Cycling is a popular sport, our victories, our defeats, our emotions are the heritage of passionate people, and we are proud today to be able to share it."

"I had some great moments, some great climbs on this bike in 2022, in the Tour de l'Ain and in the Vuelta," Pinot said of his former steed. "It will now have a second life. I like the idea that a bike or a kit that accompanied me during a season or a race can now make cycling enthusiasts happy."

The first auction runs from today until the 23rd April at 7pm.

“With Thibaut Pinot, it was something else,” said Marc Madiot at the end of a long interview published on Groupama-FDJ's website yesterday. The Frenchman's team manager gets it. He always has. 

“For many people, Thibaut represents romantic cycling,” Madiot said. “He is seen as someone who is fragile, who has anxieties, fears, but when you scratch deep enough, he is actually one of the riders who goes the furthest into suffering. He hangs on.”

Now, at 32 years old, the Frenchman has decided to let go. At the end of this season, Pinot will turn his final pedal strokes as a professional cyclist. “I’m ready for real life,” he told L’Équipe yesterday, looking forward to a new chapter at home, at peace in nature. 

Over the last 12 years, Pinot has harnessed public emotion like no other rider. We’ve felt heartache in his despair and basked in the joy of his success. When misfortune has struck, we’ve shared his sorrow, safe in the hope that, one day soon, his smile will return.  

Last year’s Tour of the Alps provided a microcosm of what it’s like to follow Pinot’s career. Having gone almost three years without a win, the Frenchman broke free on stage four of the race and tore alone towards the day’s summit finish in Austria. 

His attack was filled with confidence and belief. With a kilometre to go, however, it became clear he wasn’t going to make it. As the road stretched out beneath his tyres, so too did the gap to Astana Qazaqstan’s Miguel Ángel López, who rode clear to victory.

Motionless, Pinot sat with his back to a metal barrier after the stage. “I know you’re disappointed,” a reporter told him frankly, “but there were loads of people watching on TV who took great pleasure in seeing you race for victory on today’s mountain stage.”

The Groupama-FDJ rider stared into the distance in silence. He then turned away from the press microphones, before returning with his bottom lip quivering. “It’s such a pain,” he replied, his eyes welling up. “It’s a pain because that would have done me good. In the last 10km I was thinking about the past few years.

“I could’ve turned this shitty page and moved on to something else.”

Pinot’s last victory before that had been, arguably, his finest. I was there. It was July 2019 and the Tour de France was gearing up for a stage finish atop the mythic Tourmalet. 

I’d ridden to 500m shy of the summit, where the gendarmes stopped me and asked me to climb off. There I waited, laughing along with a group of rowdy French men, who sloshed pastis and chanted for Pinot - then seventh in the GC - for two hours straight. 

When their hero eventually arrived, the noise became deafening. We couldn’t see the finish line from where we were stood, but voices soon passed the winner’s name down the mountain. The rowdy group broke into a frenzy. Pinot had done it. 

The chanting quickly reached its crescendo. As the team cars filed through one by one, they swarmed the vehicles and slapped the windscreens along to the beat. To this day, it's the most love I've ever seen for a single rider at a bike race. 

History reminds us, of course, that the Groupama-FDJ rider would go on to step off his bike days later in what has now become one of the lasting images of his career. Victim of a muscle tear, he climbed into his team car on stage 19, crying inconsolably, unable to continue.

I hope my Tourmalet companions celebrated accordingly when Pinot returned to winning ways at the Tour of the Alps last year. 

In lashing rain, the Frenchman again broke away, determined to rid himself of the pain from the day before. This time, he shook off his Astana marker, a role now played by David de la Cruz, and kicked away on the final bend to cross the line first. “Finally,” he said in his post-race interview, “liberation.” 

In the space of 24 hours, Pinot went from one of his lowest points, to one of his highest - the inverse of what had happened at the Tour three years prior. Through it all, his fans remained by his side.   

The Frenchman, no doubt, will have his eye on more glory this season, his last one as a racing cyclist. He’s down to ride the Giro d’Italia, but many hope he’ll strap in for one final lap of France in July. 

It'll be emotional, it always is with Pinot, but it's a chance to celebrate a rider who has long defied the steely attitude at the top of elite sport.  

“This is not a farewell tour,” Madiot said of his talisman, before admitting there will be a “little tear in the eye” when he finishes his final race, Il Lombardia. 

Madiot, I'd wager, won't be the only one crying.

Lewis Askey is in no rush.

The 21-year-old has just finished his first season in the WorldTour with Groupama-FDJ, after graduating from the French squad's Continental-level equivalent, which fast developing a rich seam of talented British riders.

It might not have been an explosive year, no absolute breakthrough result yet, a second place at the Classic Loire Atlantique the closest to a maiden win, but the bosses at Groupama-FDJ are clearly impressed, as they have given him a contract extension until 2025.

Again, there is no rush. Askey is keen to stress to Cycling Weekly that while his goal is to be at the pointy end of Classics races, next year might be too early for that; a lengthy contract allows him the ability to grow and develop on his own terms, a blessing in a sport filled with two-year contracts and riders chucked out of the WorldTour as soon as they have come in. The confidence shown in him is heartening, especially as he is someone without a big result yet.

"I can just think about me being my best," he explains. "I race for me, because I'm not stressed about if I don't perform here, if I do perform here, I should be doing this for this contract or whatever. I'm only thinking about what's best for the team

"It would play on your mind, if I was going into races thinking about 'oh I need to do this to get this or if I just managed to get into that break, I could have ended up with this contract'."

Instead of being forced to worry about the next contract, now, Askey is free to beat his own path, and continue to impress at Groupama. It helps that he has been part of the setup since he was 18. It's practically a family. Well, it actually is family, as his younger brother, Ben, will be joining the development team from next season. It feels like home. 

"Ever since I've been whatever age really, I've always been on a programme that means I've never had to really stress," Askey says. "I've gone through the programme, done what I'm supposed to do, done the right thing, impressed the right people. 

"I've never had to really stress about where I'm going to be or what I'm going to be doing, I've only had to think about my race."

While he might not have hit the highest highs in 2022, he still was important for the team, slotting into his role and helping out the sprint train of Arnaud Démare at times.

"Honestly, for the most part the team thought I'd performed better than they were expected for my first year," he says. "However, I wasn't as good this year as I was last year. It was a mixture of things: I was really tired after last season, so I had to have really late start back on the bike, without the best winter and then I was not expecting that the racing was going to be so full on."

One gets the impression that Askey really enjoys cycling, even as it gets tougher at the highest level. After two years at under-23 level, he raced with the elite team this year, riding 11 races at WorldTour level.

They included dream events, like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, along with the Tour de Suisse; it is quite the step up from races like Kreiz Breizh and the Tour Alsace. For the young man from the Midlands, the biggest difference is the amount of good riders around him. It's the classic big fish in a small pond becoming a regular-sized fish in a massive pond.

"The depth is the biggest thing in the WorldTour that changes the situation," Askey says. "You've not just got one to five guys that are good. You've got so many guys that can win races. You've got guys that have won classics and massive races that are doing jobs for the teammates. It just shows the depth of the field."

The other big difference this year was the amount of racing and travelling he had to do, a big change from is very localised calendar as an U23 rider. 57 race days might be far from the most ridden this year, Thomas de Gendt's 97, but it was a big change for Askey.

"Going from race to race and travelling meant that I didn't really have time to train," he explains. "I didn't really have that base, and I was using racing to get better. There a couple of weeks where that worked, but then I hurt my knee at Roubaix, and it was a bit messy after that. It has not been the best year, but the team said it was a year to learn, and I've learned a lot. 

"I got to go and race the biggest races, so it was a useful year. I'm glad I did it now, because initially I didn't actually want to be here this year. I wanted to wait until like the following year to go pro. The biggest disappointment is not coming away with a win when I had the opportunity to more than once, and that was frustrating because it was on me."

Roubaix might have tested another rider's enjoyment of cycling, but not for Askey. With 150km of the race still to go, he was involved in one of the many crashes that affect the peloton every year, but this one resulted in his leg being sliced open, possibly by a disc brake rotor.

The resulting wound and bandage made the then 20-year-old look like a soldier of the First World War, fought on battlefields not far from the pavé of the race. He was one of the worse-off looking riders, but still he made it to the velodrome, coming 42nd proof that he cared about the occasion. It is Roubaix, after all.

Beyond everything else, though, Askey just enjoys cycling. Refreshingly, he is keen to stress that this is more important than making money from being a professional rider. It echoes what other riders have said about their mental health in recent years; that their wellbeing is more important than cycling.

"I've always rode my bike because I enjoy doing the sport," he tells Cycling Weekly. "Obviously, I've always had the goal to end up being my job. But that's never really been why I've done it. If there was a day where I really didn't want to be here and wasn't enjoying the sport in general, I wouldn't do it anymore. 

"Now, you have days that are crap. I think that's like any job. If I was not enjoying riding my bike or doing the sport, no matter that money, I'm not the person that would take that. I would prefer to be in a completely different situation without the money and happier.

"Obviously, the bike takes up such a massive part of your life, but it's not the most important thing."

Cycling isn't everything, but it just so happens that Askey is pretty handy on two wheels. With the pressure off, a bright future beckons.

After starting 2022 off questioning his whole career, Jake Stewart won his first professional bike race on Tuesday, outsprinting the field to win stage one of the Tour de l'Ain.

The Groupama-FDJ rider said the result was a "long time coming" and has taken a "big weight off the shoulders, it means a lot". 

The 22-year-old has threatened big things before, most notably his second place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the beginning of 2021, but struggled with intestinal problems at the beginning of the year, which threatened to derail his career.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly shortly after his victory in Val-Revermont, at the beginning of the three-stage Tour de l'Ain, Stewart pointed out that it was not only his first pro win, but his first international win at any level too.

"It's a long time coming, I've been chasing this win for so long," he explained. "I was always putting pressure on myself to perform, to get that win. It's a big weight off the shoulders, it means a lot.

"It makes it more special from the start of this year, from when I was ill or whatever. I questioned my whole career, whether it would be possible to come back to the same level. I was going well into the Tour de Suisse and then had Covid as well, so it has been a pretty sh** year to begin with. It definitely makes the win a bit sweeter, after a tough year like this."

Stewart's Groupama-FDJ team had a hard time controlling the stage for a sprint, with attacks coming mostly from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl; Julian Alaphilippe had a go, before Remi Cavagna tried to disrupt the planned sprint with a late attack. 

However, the lone escapee was brought back in time for a bunch sprint, and Stewart's chance at glory.

It has been a target for a while, since 2020 even: "We said, even from a while ago, the first stage at Tour de l'Ain it really suits me," he said. "We knew I was probably one of the fastest."

However, it has been a long road to this point. After his breakthrough result at Omloop last February, which also followed a fourth place on GC at Etoile de Bessèges, there were big expectations. However, a collision with the barriers at Cholet-Pays de la Loire in March - caused by Nacer Bouhanni - saw him break a bone in his hand, stalling his promising start to WorldTour life.

Stewart then had a delayed start to this season after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, but has since bounced back. He came close to breaking his duck with third place on a stage and overall at the Four Days of Dunkerque, before coming third at the Grand Prix du Morbihan too. Winning finally means a lot to the man from the Midlands.

"When you chasing something for so long, you start to become a bit desperate," he said on Tuesday evening. "You're always putting the pressure on, you just want it a bit too much. It definitely takes the takes that pressure away, and lifts the weight off your shoulders. Everyone has always said, once you've got that first win, you've got the confidence and you go from there. It puts my mind at ease a bit more, and I can carry on working from here."

The young Groupama rider was clearly emotional in the interviews he gave after the finish line, and had a lot of people to thank..

"There are so many people to thank, everyone knows who they are," he said. "From my time as a junior with Robin Fox at Solihull CC, up through to Stuart Blunt and Keith Lambert as a junior and u23. Then all my family, friends, and Georgia. They've been there through thick and thin, always been there to support me, and have sacrificed so much for me to live my dream. It means a lot."

As for the next two days, Stewart will be looking to pay back his teammates for their efforts today. While he might be in the leader's jersey tomorrow, the mountainous two stages are not for him.

"We get through these next two days, there's no opportunities now, it's for the climbers," he said. The boys worked real hard for me today so I'll do what I can for them in the mountains. We have two pretty good GC hopes, so I'll be there to support them. Then it's also two good days of preparation working for the Vuelta a España, then we go from there."

Now he has his first win, Stewart might just be one to watch out for at the Vuelta next week.

Tour de France stage winner Tom Pidcock has tipped fellow Brit Sam Watson for great success when he makes the jump to the Groupama-FDJ WorldTour team in 2023. 

The 20-year-old from Leeds is part of a group of seven riders that Groupama-FDJ announced this afternoon will make the step up from their Conti team to the WorldTour squad.

Watson has already had a remarkable season, and this contract will be the icing on the cake for the young British rider. In June, he was crowned under-23 British national road champion as part of a string of impressive results in 2022. 

He said: “Turning professional is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. I’ve always been attracted to anything with wheels, I rode my bike to school and then I discovered cycling through the Pidcock family. All I knew was that I wanted to do it for a living. 

“I particularly enjoyed this year at the Conti and I’m happy to continue with Groupama-FDJ. It’s the perfect place. This season, I learnt how to protect the sprinters and climbers so that they could express themselves as well as possible, which was new for me. Personally, I am more of a puncheur and I hope to become a Classics rider.”

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), along with his brother Joe who currently rides for Groupama-FDJ's development squad with Watson, is a childhood friend of Watson. When asked about Watson by Cycling Weekly during the Tour de France, Pidcock joked that his friend from Leeds always had a talent for spotting the best deals on kit and bikes.

Pidcock said: “He was always on eBay, finding good deals. He’d get a decent bike and kit…I remember he would come along with us to races and he was always able to look and learn from people and never need to be told anything…much better than my brother!” 

Pidcock added: “With the talent he [Watson] has, it’s not a surprise he’s so successful now. I was actually really proud to see him perform well at the Nationals, it was really nice to see. He’s going to win some big bike races, he’s switched on and knows what he’s doing.” 

In March this year, Watson took an impressive win at the under-23 edition of Gent-Wevelgem. The Leeds-born rider then would challenge at the sharp end of the road race at the British National Championships.

Watson told Cycling Weekly that racing against the likes of Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), was a surreal experience, although one he wished wasn’t unfolding when he ended up in a sprint with the Manxman for the overall title in Scotland.  

He said: “You look up to guys like Cavendish and wish you could race against them but then I ended up with him with just a few kilometres to go and I was just wishing he wasn’t there to be honest.

"I tried a few times to get away from him but he’s obviously a tough bike racer. He won that day fair and square.” 

The other riders turning professional with Watson are Lorenzo Germani, Romain Gregoire, Lenny Martinez, Enzo Paleni, Laurence Pithie and Reuben Thompson. 

Marc Madiot, general manager of the Groupama-FDJ team explained that recruiting the riders to the professional ranks was a "logical choice". 

He said: "The Conti model, which we implemented in 2018, has proven itself. The young athletes train and live together, have access to quality performance facilities and can switch to the WorldTour team in certain races. 

“When we recruit them to the WorldTour team, we know they are ready and they know what they are getting into. They already have the DNA of our team and they want to evolve with us. 

"Next year, I think we will break records in terms of average age. We were at a crossroads for the team, there was an opportunity in front of us, we had to take it.”

After the famine, the feast. Both in terms of action on stage six of the Giro d'Italia, where a dull day was followed by a thrilling finish, and Grand Tour stage wins for Arnaud Démare, as the Frenchman has now won two in a row.

It is fair to say Thursday's stage was reasonably dull, but it was enlivened by a thrilling sprint which saw a deluxe sprint train battle, multiple riders angered, and a photo finish in the end. 

It meant that after 44 Grand Tour stages without a victory, Démare has now won on back-to-back days at this Giro, serving up some of his best performances in those victories. When it rains, it pours.

Who knows if the Groupama-FDJ fast man is a fan of the Bristol-based trip hop band Massive Attack, but his big wheel certainly seems to keep on turning, as they sang in the Hymn of the Big Wheel.

"We knew it was just a wheel. When it starts spinning it’s easy to let it roll," his leadout man Jacopo Guarnieri said following the stage. Maybe he likes Blue Lines.

It certainly is rolling at the moment, as Démare powerfully outsprinted Caleb Ewan, Mark Cavendish and the rest on a fast finish in Scalea on Thursday. He left it late to turn it on, showing his nous hasn't deserted him, despite the dry spell which dates back to Paris-Tour last year.

While Cavendish went early, and Ewan looked like the fastest, Démare used his power to make a gap and then come round the Australian on the finish line.

The Lotto-Soudal rider was left dejected, and Groupama were left delighted, with their second win in a row after a largely barren season.

Démare might have won six Giro stages before, but this was more impressive than any of them; the sprinting field, despite the lack of opportunities, is world-class at this race, with perhaps only a couple of names missing.

To win against such storied opponents, then, must mean a lot. He now has more stage wins at the Giro than any other Frenchman, more than Bernard Hinault, more than Jacques Anquetil, so many more than Laurent Fignon.

Cavendish was clearly frustrated at the line, but simply did not have the speed to compete with Ewan and Démare. Fernando Gaviria, meanwhile, was angry once again as he was boxed out by a pair of Team DSM riders.

"It was super hard and super messy, but Démare was just better," Ewan conceded following the finish.

After doubts about the Frenchman's true sprinting prowess, this will surely silence some of the doubters, as well as giving him a lot of confidence to keep winning. Although there are only a few more sprint opportunities coming, don't bet against Démare racking the wins up again, as he did in 2020, when he won four.

However, on that occasion the field definitely was weaker, with the Groupama rider competing against sprinters like Álvaro Hodeg and Simone Consonni, or puncheurs like Peter Sagan, instead of world-class fast men like Cavendish and Ewan.

For Guarnieri, the team was "perfect". "We were sure, when we were talking at the beginning of the Giro that we were strong, we were in shape. It’s just a matter of putting everything in its own place, and today was just perfect. Everyone was super strong, so we can be super happy."

The result meant all the more to the Italian, because he missed out on helping his teammate to victory on Wednesday, he explained.

"First of all, it was special for me because yesterday it really sucked because I was not there with the guys," he said. "It was really bittersweet for me because I was really happy for the guys and Arnaud but I was really unhappy with myself. But at the end of today I wanted to react. The team was perfect, we gained so much confidence from what we did yesterday."

The peloton finished about half an hour behind the slowest speed scheduled by the organisers; there was a breakaway of one for much of the day, poor Diego Rosa.

"With the freshness we had, it was a stroll day, it was super fast at the end," Guarinieri explained. "So I think he made the right choice in not launching his sprint first. I think it was slightly going up in the end. I think he timed it perfectly."

Delight for Groupama and Démare, while the other sprint teams will be left wondering how to beat the French train.

With apologies to David De La Cruz, there was only one winner the crowd wanted to see win in Lienz on Friday. Twenty-four hours after an emotional second place, Thibaut Pinot finally got the victory that he had been working so hard for, and radiated pure ecstasy as he crossed the finish line.

To show you how popular the Frenchman is, yesterday after he had collapsed after just falling short of the win, Geoffrey Bouchard of Ag2r Citroën approached the media scrum surround Pinot, and looked full of joy after he assumed his countryman had got the victory. After being told that it was not true, Bouchard's face fell. Everyone's face seemed to fall.

On stage five of the Tour of the Alps, by contrast, everyone was beaming (apart from De La Cruz and Astana). The Groupama-FDJ staff were over the moon to witness the return of their biggest star, the big show himself.

Pinot admitted post-race that he never thought he would get back here, back to his winning ways. He has promised so much during his career, and delivered too, but it looked like the difficulties he has had to endure had got the better of him.

Since a crash at the 2020 Tour de France, the Groupama rider has had a long journey back to the top, and Friday marked 1,007 days since his last victory, on the Tourmalet at the 2019 Tour.

"This is a very important win in my career," he said. "It’s going to be an unforgettable day, because I’ve worked so hard. I’ve missed it for so long, but the Tour of the Alps is my favourite race. I had a really difficult period, so this is really rewarding. It was a crazy day today."

Michael Storer, his Australian team-mate, secured second on general classification with his ride on Friday. Despite only being on the team this year, he knows how momentous a win this is for Pinot, Groupama, and French cycling.

"It means everything," he said. "Just joining the team I also understood how important this is to Thibaut. He has had a really, really hard time the past two years. I think he made a quote yesterday that he really wanted to put the past behind him, and I think Thibaut's back."

Pinot's second place on stage four actually galvanised him into action, he explained to the media. It proved to him that he had the strength, and the confidence, to try once again.

"Yesterday I was very disappointed, because I was so close to winning after so long," he said. "I always thought I would never get there. The second place made me aware that I could actually win. Today I saw the route, I saw the rain, the cold weather, and I thought to myself that I would breakaway as soon as possible. That second place yesterday made me aware that I still had some potential."

His emotions were very clear on Thursday, and they were again on Friday. Unlike others who seem almost robotic, or calm no matter what the result, Pinot actually shows how he feels, something he is aware of.

"I’m a rider who conveys both good and bad emotions," he said. "Sometimes I let people down. I try to show the way I am, being more natural. Perhaps people love the way I ride and the way I am, that’s me."

Despite winning for the first time in almost three years, and doing so in such an impressive manner - attacking early, staying in the break, building the lead, escaping with De La Cruz, and then sprinting to the win - Pinot still feels he has more to give.

He will target the Tour de France in July, and therefore has more time to build. Perhaps he truly can delight the French public once more, as he makes his comeback.

"I think there are still more things I can do," he said. "Physically I was stronger today than I was yesterday, and I think if I had the condition I had today yesterday, I would have won. Today was a glory day, I raced at a very high level. I’m sure there are still some things to fine tune to beat the best, but today was a really great day."

Whether he can still improve or not, as Storer said, Pinot is back. 

There is only ever one winner in cycling. Rarely has it felt like more of a shame than on stage four of the Tour of the Alps, when Thibaut Pinot was caught within the final kilometre and consigned to second place.

The Frenchman has had to endure an enormous amount of trials and tribulations during his career, with injury keeping him from fulfilling his undeniable potential in the last few years.

Since a crash at the 2020 Tour de France, the Groupama-FDJ rider has been working to come back to his top level. While Thursday's result was his first second place since the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné, it clearly was not enough.

Collapsing to the floor soon after the finish line, Pinot looked like a man who had given it all, and yet that was not enough to hold off Miguel Ángel López, who powered past him with about 900m to go.

"It pisses me off…" an emotional Pinot began, before pausing to regain his composure. "It pisses me off because it would have been good for me after the last two years I’ve been through…"

He last won a race at the 2019 Tour, when he looked like he could be in with a chance of victory, the Tour victory by a Frenchman that France has been waiting since 1985 for. 

His chance on Thursday came after he infiltrated the day's breakaway, which moved clear with just 80km to go. Pinot made his decisive move with 10km to go, on the lower slopes up to Kals Am Grossglockner, where the stage finished. 

While it looked for a time like he might hold out to the finish, the peloton was not far behind, with López lurking within it.

Pinot has suffered from back pain since the 2020 Tour, and last year was the first since 2012 in which he did not race a Grand Tour. However, he is scheduled to take part in this year's Grande Boucle, and so is looking to be back to his best for them.

"At my normal level, nobody would have caught up with me there," the 31-year-old explained after the stage. "That's what's frustrating. I wish it [fortune] would smile on me one day. I’ll have to be patient."

Perhaps he needs to take inspiration from the Earl of Kent in Shakespeare's King Lear, who asks fortune to "smile once more; turn thy wheel". There are few riders that could do with a change in fortune as much as Pinot.

He has won 31 races across his career, something that anyone that looks at his bike can't avoid - the titles are listed on his top tube.

However, Pinot has finished second on stages and races 35 times overall, proving that with a bit more luck, he could have had a much longer palmarés.

He knows, that although he is only 31, there will never be too many more opportunities, even if he does return to his best.

"It was another good chance to win and there aren’t many as a pro," the Frenchman said in Kals Am Grossglockner. "We’ll see, we’ll see tomorrow and in the coming weeks. It would have done me good to win today.

"I could have turned that s***ty page and moved on to something else."

What was clear was that Pinot had given it all on Thursday. It is just that his all simply remains not enough.

Jake Stewart does not know when he will return to racing, with his 2022 season delayed by ongoing intestinal problems.

The British sprinter, who rides for French team Groupama-FDJ, has not raced since the British national championships in October.

In a press release on Tuesday, Stewart revealed that he had suffered from the ailment since January, which prevents him from racing at his top level.

In his debut season last year, he finished second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad but after a clash with Nacer Bouhanni in the final of Cholet-Pays de la Loire he suffered a fracture in his left hand which kept him out of the Tour of Flanders.

Stewart went on to record top-10 finishes on stages of the Tour de Wallonie and the Tour of Poland.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly in December, the Brit said: “I’m eager to consolidate that [his season last year], prove it wasn’t a one-off, a fluke. It’s easy to say it was beginner’s luck as a neo-pro, but it was what I was capable of. I want to repeat those results and improve on them."

In the press release, Stewart said:"Since mid-January, I have been bothered by intestinal problems, which prevented me from competing. We are looking for the best solution to cure it. During this period of time, I will not be able to race at a high level, I can train but I will not compete.

"Finally, I also want to thank the specialist who is following me, Jacky Maillot and the whole team Groupama-FDJ. They listened to me and gave me time to understand what was going on. Everything is in line for me to get better and to get back to my best level.” 

Maillot, who is head of the medical department at Groupama-FDJ, said: "Jake Stewart suffers from intestines inflammation. He will have to follow a treatment that will keep him away from racing, the date of return to competition will be set later on."

In a tweet, the sprinter said: "Sorry to you guys that I've flicked that had me in your fantasy teams for the spring classics because it's gonna be a while until I'm racing again. Health is wealth, and we're taking our time to find my 100% again!"

Thibaut Pinot will return to the Tour de France for the first time since 2020 this year, with sprinter Arnaud Démare heading to the Giro d'Italia instead.

Groupama-FDJ announced their leaders for the Tour and Giro at a team presentation on Wednesday, where much of the Tour squad was also revealed.

Alongside Pinot, who has won three stages at the Tour and finished third in 2014, will be David Gaudu, Stefan Küng, Valentin Madouas, and new signing Michael Storer.

The Frenchman crashed heavily in the first week of the 2022 race, which aggravated a back injury which has plagued him since. He did not compete in any of the grand tours last year, riding just 38 race days.

In 2019, he looked set to be a strong contender for the overall at the race before he innocuously injured his knee; he was 1:50 behind race leader Julian Alaphilippe with a stage win already in his pocket when he abandoned stage 19. Pinot hopes to be back to his best for this year's race, which begins in Copenhagen on 1 July.

“I want to regain my level and win races," he said. "I want to become the rider again before my fall on the Tour 2020. The Tour de France will be the highlight of my season with this common goal: a podium on the Champs-Élysées."

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Pinot will be joined by Gaudu, who finished 11th at the 2021 Tour. The pair will vie for leadership along with Storer, the Australian who joined from DSM over the winter.

Team boss Marc Madiot said: "For the Tour de France, we’re going to go with extremely high ambitions. We want to fight for the podium...

"We’re six months away from the Tour, and it will be the evolution of the riders’ physical condition, along with the circumstances of the race, that will influence things. I can’t say right now who the main leader will be."

On Storer, the Frenchman said: "We’ll see how the race unfolds but, from what we saw of him in the mountains, notably at the Vuelta, he can be taken into consideration."

The Australian won two stages of the Vuelta a España last year and the mountains classification. 

"In the first place, the squad is built around David and Thibaut," Madiot continued. "But when you look at the general classification in recent years, ok, Pogačar has won, but when you look at some of the guys below him, how many would you have put on the podium or in the top-five six months beforehand?"

Gaudu has ambitions for finishing higher up the GC this year, with the 25-year old expressing a desire to finish on the podium too.

"I want to transform the top ten into top five, the top five into podiums, and the podiums into victories," he said. "The Tour de France will be the major goal of my season, I’m going with the team to aim for the podium in the general classification."

At the Giro, Démare will aim for sprint victories, which he won four of in 2020 along with the points jersey. He will be joined by Attila Valter, who is aiming to impress again after spending time in the pink jersey last year. The race begins in Budapest, and the Hungarian riders has spoken of his desire to impress on home roads.

All of the best cycling development teams are scouring the British market for the next superstar, claims the manager of one of the most successful current U23 outfits. 

Jens Blatter has led the Groupama-FDJ Continental U23 team in its three years of existence and formerly worked at the BMC Development Team that produced a number of riders who later advanced to the sport’s highest echelons, including Pavel Sivakov, Marc Hirshi, Stefan Küng and Jasper Philipsen.

In his three years with Groupama-FDJ, Blatter has seen British protégés Jake Stewart and Lewis Askey be promoted to the team’s WorldTour squad, and he believes that riders from the UK are now the first pick for all managers of development teams, for reasons that extend beyond their ability on the bike.

“More and more British riders are coming through, more and more strong riders from there, and at the moment, it is British riders who everyone wants,” Blatter told Cycling Weekly.

“We had a lot of luck and great experiences with Jake, the team’s first British rider, because he was super-strong. But what I like from British riders is that they are really professional on and around the bike.

“We pay for all of our non-French riders to have French lessons, but the British are the first ones who learn it.

“They go into everything full gas, they are so professional, and that’s a big difference between a rider from the UK and a rider from Italy or Switzerland, for example.

“If I said to an Italian rider that he has to move to France and live in an apartment with a team, the conversation will probably stop there, because he wants to stay with his family and his girlfriend; to live an easier life.

“They might still become a pro, but the Briton, the first question they ask me is: when can I come? Can I start tomorrow? There is a big, big difference.

“I think it starts with British Cycling and the track program that they have. What they do there is really fantastic.

“We have picked up Jake, Lewis, Joe [Pidcock], Finlay [Pickering] and Sam [Watson] from there and they are so professional. They haven't learned that from the world, but from British Cycling, and they bring big results with them too.”

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The attraction between the French team and young riders is also both ways, with Blatter revealing that “every day I get 10 requests from everywhere in the world to join the team” owing to their linear structure between the U23 and WorldTour squads.

With more young riders going directly to the top-tier as teenagers - a contentious issue that recently prompted one agent to express his worry towards - Blatter stressed that U23 teams still play a crucial role in a rider’s progression.

“For sure riders need some results and need to win races, but for us it’s more important that we see the rider progressing year on year,” he added.

“It’s super-important how they handle everything outside the bike: how they are with their teammates, how they look after their apartment, how friendly and motivated they are.

“Riders want to come to us because they see we are a really professional structure, and that we allow riders to ride with the Conti team but then also the WorldTour team regularly."

Groupama-FDJ cycling team aren't satisfied with their performances in 2021, suggesting that the lack of a Grand Tour victory makes the season less successful and less memorable.

The French-based team achieved 24 victories last season, including Arnaud Démare's Paris-Tours win and Stefan Küng’s overall success at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. However, Groupama-FDJ assistant sports director Yvon Madiot is critical of the team's performance on the whole, expressing that he expected better with the qualities an organisation of their status possesses. 

Madiot claims that the team's failure to secure a win at the Grand Tours makes the season an average one, despite their 24 victories. Consequently, Groupama-FDJ is going into 2022 more motivated to perform at a higher level.

He said: "There is the feeling that something is missing: the victory or the result we remember of. We feel there is unfinished business, despite everything else we have done. It’s frustrating. For me, it’s crystal-clear: the season isn’t really successful. There are obvious failures. The Tour was one of them. We expected a lot, we thought we had the team to be able to win on a lot of terrains. 

"I insist: we lack this memorable victory. This memorable victory is also the one that makes you spend the winter in peace. We don’t have it, so it makes us spend the winter with a feeling of revenge and self-questioning. I do not tell myself 'it will be better tomorrow'. No. It just wasn’t as we hoped and we’re going to work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

"Considering our level of organisation, the qualities and skills we have among the staff and the riders and how much our investment is, we cannot be completely satisfied with a season like this one. 

"We are going to question ourselves, all of us, at every level, to go and get victory or victories that remain and make a season a success."

One of the problems that Madiot points to for the team's lack of memorable success is the lack of riders who step up when leaders, such as Thibaut Pinot or Arnaud Démare, are absent from races. 

He claims that management soon realised the team didn't have many riders capable of winning at the elite races, suggesting: "When our leaders had issues, it was difficult to perform."

As a result, Groupama-FDJ has acted astutely in the rider market, focussing on bringing in two types of cyclists for next season as the team looked to strengthen in weak areas. 

Madiot said: "We were looking for two profiles: climbers and sprinters. The climber profile is extremely popular and sought after. We had two great opportunities, which concluded fairly quickly because we had in front of us riders who wanted to come. 

"In the case of Michael Storer, his agent called us and said he wanted to come and work with us. This is the profile we were looking for, namely the climber capable of accompanying our leaders very far, and when they are not there, of performing individually.

"We also had the case of Quentin Pacher. He wanted to come, we wanted to recruit him, because he is an offensive but also a perfectible rider. As for Bram Welten, he contacted us himself. He wanted to join a big train while having his chance from time to time, without claiming a leader status."

The predominantly French team has started to bring in more riders from outside the country in recent years too, selecting the best available cyclists, rather than based on their nationality.  

Madiot continued: "There are high-performance riders on the market, and we don’t look at whether they are French or not. For me, it’s not important. We try to build the best possible team. If the skills are on the other side of the border, we have to go get them as well.

With the team also creating a UCI Continental team in 2019 too, Madiot is confident that it will come to fruition in the near future with nurtured talent they can easily promote into their WorldTour team.

"I think we can almost dream of recruiting almost exclusively from the Conti in two or three years. The prospects are promising."

Thibaut Pinot looks to be heading back into racing on good form after setting some rapid times on his recent training rides posted to Strava.

Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) took a break from racing after the Tour of the Alps, where he went in a couple of breaks and took fifth overall in the mountain standings. He has been struggling with back issues but also struggling mentally to go for races.

Speaking in a piece by L'Equipe, Pinot said: "I’m eager to pin a race number on again,

"The legs are pretty good, I think. Based on the quality of my training and the numbers I’m producing, I feel that things are going well."

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Pinot recently went out on a training ride that included the climb of the Ballon d'Alsace Short segment where he set the joint fastest time on the 6.7km climb that averaged out at 5.8 per cent gradient and a maximum of 10 per cent.

Unfortunately, Pinot did not post his power on his ride but he still set a time up the climb of 16-42, averaging 24.3kph over the variations of gradients.

The ride was done on the morning of Wednesday, August 11 over 187.78km and took the Frenchman 6-01-42 to finish, with 3,419 metres of elevation done over the ride as he continued his big build-up back to racing again.

He also managed a few other top-10 results on various other segments on his ride showing he was keeping a strong pace throughout the day.

Pinot has started his next block of smaller French races, so he can focus on getting back to racing without the pressure, starting with the hilly Tour de Limousin.

This is usually a very tough and well fought race, making it an ideal starting point for the French star. 

"I’ve missed fighting for victory, and knowing why you train so hard," he said. 

Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot has admitted that he should have stopped Thibaut Pinot from racing earlier last year after crashing on the opening stage of the Tour de France.

Pinot has been suffering from back problems that have seen him abandon the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in recent years after looking very strong. His crash at last year's Tour added to the issues too.

Madiot told Ouest-France: "You know, what happened to him, if it had happened in any race other than the Tour de France, we wouldn't be in the situation we are today… He fell on the first stage of the Tour in Nice, in another event we would have stopped it the same day and we would not have put ourselves in the situation we are in today."

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Pinot went on in the race, losing time as he searched for a stage win from the breakaway before eventually abandoning.

"We should have stopped him earlier. But we did not have the elements of analysis at that time," Madiot continued. "We had done some tests on the first day of rest, but we couldn't identify what was really going on. 

"We had seen bruises, but that's it. If we had been able to investigate further, we would have told him to stop at the first stage of the Tour. But that's how it is, now let's try to restart and rebuild around the future."

Pinot, who has been seen as France's big hope to win the Tour de France, was set to ride at the Giro d'Italia this season with the team focusing on younger French climber David Gaudu along with French champion and sprinter Arnaud Démare for the Tour de France, but Pinot pulled out of the Giro after the Tour of the Alps where he struggled.

"He paid the consequences for many months. We shouldn't have let him put himself in that state," said Madiot. "It has often been said that Pinot had no mind, that he lacked this, that… But I take my hat off to him. He put himself in a state in which few people know how to put himself, on this Tour 2020. He hurt himself very badly, believe me."

Pinot isn't the only big general classification name to have issues with his back. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) has also struggled with a recurring issue. The Colombian also abandoned the Tour with back problems but came back in 2021 to win the Giro d'Italia.

Madiot says that they are giving Pinot time to recover before they look at next seasons objective, whether that be the Tour, Giro of the Vuelta a España.

Arnaud Démare took stage two victory of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2021 in awful weather conditions to make it two wins from two stages for Groupama-FDJ after Miles Scotson took the opening day.

Démare had a perfect lead-out all the way to the line. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) was in a perfect position sat on the French champion's wheel but he just did not have the kick to get around and ended up finishing in third place behind Timothy Dupont (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces), who finished with good speed.

The weather played a huge part in the stage with riders wearing their rain jackets all the way to the line. The break used the conditions to their advantage with the multiple roundabouts in the closing kilometres but, in the end, the peloton pulled them back with three kilometres to go.

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Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) holds onto his yellow jersey by a comfortable 32 seconds over John Degenkolb (Lotto-Soudal) after the Australian's solo effort on stage one.

But stage three is likely to see a big shakeup in the overall standings as the race goes climbing from Torrent to Alto de la Reina with a summit finish. The riders will be hoping the weather improves for it.

How it happened

The day started and finished in the city of Alicante and took on another relatively lumpy parcours that looked very similar to the opening stage. The 179km route did take in fewer climbs than the previous stage with a flatter run to the finish.

Five riders went away in the early break, pulling out a maximum gap of around three and a half minutes. The break was made up of Ángel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Robin Carpenter (Rally), Ibon Ruiz (Caja Rural), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Brent van de Kerkhove (Tarteletto-Isorex).

The pace in the peloton was controlled by the French team Groupama-FDJ who were working for French champion, Démare. His team-mate, Scotson was riding on the front despite wearing the yellow jersey.

As the race entered the last 10km Groupama-FDJ were joined by Lotto-Soudal and Bongoal-Pauwels Sauces to bring the break back. The gap up to the break had dipped inside a minute shortly after they joined the chase.

Madrazo and Carpenter tried to stay away from the line but were brought back with 3km to go as the teams started to come together for the finish. Groupama-FDJ took full control into the final kilometre with Stefan Küng leading under the flamme rouge.

Démare had five riders in front of him going into the final kilometre with each doing one huge turn before dropping off their sprinter in the perfect position. Nobody could get around the team as they strung the peloton out.

Groupama-FDJ also take another day in the yellow jersey of the overall leader as Scotson finished safely in the peloton after working hard for Démare all day. He leads German sprinter, Degenkolb by 32 seconds and Alan Riou (Arkéa-Samsic) by 34 seconds going into the 'queen's stage' from Torrent to Alto de la Reina tomorrow.

Results

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2021, stage two: Alicante to Alicante (179km)

1. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 4-09-23

2. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles

3. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto-Soudal

4. Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis

5. Sebastan Mora (Esp) Movistar Team

6. Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ

7. Edwin Ávila (Col) Burgos-BH

8. Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling

9. Felipe Orts (Esp) Burgos-BH

10. Gil d'Heygere (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex, all at same time.

General classification after stage two

1. Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ, in 8-24-10

2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto-Soudal, at 32 seconds

3. Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkéa-Samsic, at 34s

4. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, at 35s

5. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team, 36s

6. Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis, 37s

7. Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis, at 38s

8. Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling

9. Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkéa-Samsic

10. Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM, all at same time.

Miles Scotson took stage one of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2021 on his own ahead of the peloton led in by John Degenkolb, despite crashing in the final five kilometres.

Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) went clear with around 18km to go, using the descent from the Sa Creuta and powering clear from the nervy peloton on the damp roads. Degenkolb (Lotto-Soudal) sprinted to second.

This is the Australian's second-ever win away from the Australian national title he got back in 2017, which he took in a very similar fashion.

The weather played a huge part as the peloton was all over the road on the final climb and was stretched further on the descent with Movistar struggling to hold control.

The early break was joined by a much larger group that included some very dangerous riders for the stage and the overall, so it was swiftly brought back, setting up the late attack from Scotson.

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Stage two of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is a lot flatter than stage one with a likely bunch sprint between the likes of Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) on the cards.

How it happened

The early break that got away was made up of five riders with Raffaele Radice (Mg.k Vis VPN), Laurent Teugels (Tarteletto-Izorex), Stephen Bassett (Rally), Maxime Cam (B&B Hotels p/b KTM) and Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma).

They were later joined by a group of 11 riders including Swiss champion Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and one of the pre-race favourites Élie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic). This meant the gap to the peloton went from around two minutes to around 20 seconds with 37km to go.

Unsurprisingly, most of the riders on the front of the chase were from the WorldTour teams of Lotto-Soudal, Movistar and Cofidis along with top Spanish second division team, Caja Rural. The peloton managed to pull back to attackers with 32km to go.

The descent of the final climb of the day, the Sa Creuta, was fast and damp with riders stretching across the road. Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) used that chaos in the pack to power away. Puerto Rican champion, Abner González (Movistar) tried to join him but could not match the power of the former Australian champion.

González dropped back to the peloton that was made up of only around 40 riders, 30 seconds behind Scotson with 18km to go. Movistar and Caja Rural were the only teams trying to chase.

In the chase Küng, Scotson’s team-mate was doing all he could to get in the way of the chase as Cofidis came up to try and help Movistar and Caja Rural with 7km to go.

Scotson had managed to pull out the gap to 48 seconds with 5km to go. The Australian continued to look solid for the stage win. That was suddenly in doubt with 3km to go as he crashed on a roundabout, but luckily he and his bike were fine and he managed to get back on the bike.

He held off the chasing peloton to take victory and the yellow leaders jersey by 28 seconds over the chasing peloton led in by Degenkolb.

Stage two starts and finishes in Alicante and takes on a lumpy profile of 179km before again descending to the finish on a very similar day to stage one.

Results

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2021 stage one, Elche to Ondara (166km)

1. Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ, in 4-14-57

2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto-Soudal, at 28 seconds

3. Alan Riou (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic

4. Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling

5. Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis

6. Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM

7. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ

8. Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic

9. Jonathan Lastra (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

10. Rémy Mertz (Bel) Bongoal-Pauwels Suaces-Wallonie Bruxelles, all at same time.

General classification

1. Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ, in 4-14-57

2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto-Soudal, at 34 seconds

3. Alan Riou (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic, at 36s

4. Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling, at 38s

5. Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis

6. Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM

7. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ

8. Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic

9. Jonathan Lastra (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

10. Rémy Mertz (Bel) Bongoal-Pauwels Suaces-Wallonie Bruxelles, all at same time.

French development rider Théo Nonnez has announced that he will be retiring from professional cycling so that he can be mentally happy.

Nonnez (Groupama-FDJ Continentale) has decided that he will step away from the sport after suffering from severe mental health problems due to the stress of training.

Speaking in a team press release, Nonnez said: "I made this decision after a long period of reflection. I think we can call it a burnout, even though it’s rather an addition of many things that got me to this point. I am not sad to make this decision.

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"On the opposite, it gives me hope again. I had entered a vicious cycle and I didn’t dare talking about how I felt. I realise that I did the right thing with coming out of my silence because I don’t know what would have happened if I had remained quiet any longer."

The 21-year-old has had some very solid performances in the development races, including fifth at the Ronde de l'Isard and a very impressive fourth at the under 23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège as well as the junior French road race title.

The Frenchman was struggling to find motivation last season even with a goal of becoming a full-time WorldTour rider for this year. But he trained too much and ended up damaging himself further.

"Finally, something clicked a few days before Christmas. I went for a training ride on my own, as I often do, because I had specific exercises to do. The weather was really bad, I had very poor motivation, and after a few dozen minutes, I broke down.

"I started to cry on the bike. At that point, I said to myself: 'Théo, you have to stop all this, it has to change, there is something wrong'. I then took a step back and got great support from the team’s medical staff, as well as from my relatives."

The team and his relatives had given him support but when it came to the build-up for the 2021 season, he realised that he could not continue as a rider.

"I had come to a point when I could not do it anymore… I felt bad about not respecting the contract, but I would have felt like taking the guys for idiots going there and pretending everything was all right. This sport is so hard when you’re at 100 per cent, so when you’re not, it’s not even an option.

"When I called the team to tell them I wanted to stop, I was in tears. They told me to take my time, to take a few weeks to think about it, to put the bike aside and not ride if I didn’t feel like it. I can’t thank the team enough for that.

"In another environment, I might have immediately been pushed aside or kicked out. I was fortunate enough to have this time to think through, and this time enabled me to strengthen my decision.

"I had already felt last year that I needed some sort of an outlet, even if cycling fulfils that role for many. I needed something else, the team was very open about it and was kind enough to pay for a training course in communication.

"I’ve committed to it, I still do, and I hope to bounce back in this area. Why not even work with the team again later?! I have many projects but they need to get more concrete, and I’m still slowly getting back on my feet."

Nonnez is not the first rider to step away from racing due to mental health issues. Marcel Kittel and more recently Tom Dumoulin both stepped away from the sport to try and gather themselves again. Kittel never came back to the sport, whereas it is unclear as to whether former world time trial champion Dumoulin will return or not.

Groupama-FDJ have had to pull out from racing at the Belgian one-day race of Scheldeprijs due to a positive Coronavirus test within the team.

The French squad were set to start with their star sprinter and French champion, Arnaud Démare, who recently took his first win of the season at La Roue Tourangelle where he beat Nacer Bouhanni (Akéa-Samsic) to the line.

The team put out a short Tweet earlier this morning (April 7) saying: "We will not take the start of the Scheldeprijs this Wednesday, due to the positive test for Covid-19 of one of our team members."

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It is not yet clear whether the positive was within the riders or the staff, but the team have taken the correct procedure.

Other teams have had to do the same at other big races with Alpecin-Fenix, Bora-Hansgrohe, Trek-Segafredo, and Kern-Pharma all having to abandon races due to positive tests from riders or staff members.

Démare will likely be frustrated as he would have wanted to kick start his season after getting his first win of the year. The French champion won 14 times in 2020, which made him the rider with the most wins in the year. It also earned him the points jersey at the Giro d'Italia, where he took four wins.

The weather has also played a part in the team presentation having to be cancelled due to the bitterly cold weather and snow.

This meant that the riders in both the men's and women's races did not do the usual sign-on on the stage and instead went straight to the start line.

Scheldeprijs finishes in the town of Schoten with the men's race starting in Terneuzen before taking on a windswept 193.8km whereas the women's race started and finishes in Schoten after 136.2km.

The race usually comes down to a mass sprint finish with some of the biggest names in the sprinting world taking to the men's race. The now retired Marcel Kittel holds the record for the most wins with five wins between 2012 and 2017.

This year sees the first-ever women's edition of the race and the race has attracted some big with top sprinters like Lorena Wiebes (DSM), Marta Bastianelli (Alé-Ljubljana-BTC), Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service), and Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) all riding.

Jake Stewart has been ruled out of this year's Tour of Flanders due to a hand fracture caused by the collision between him and former French champion Nacer Bouhanni at the Cholet-Pays de la Loire on Sunday (March 28).

Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) has had an incredible start to his first full season as a WorldTour rider with some top results, including a second place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad behind the on-form Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck - Quick-Step).

The 21-year-old British rider was down to be one of the protected riders at the Tour of Flanders alongside the likes of French and Swiss champions Arnaud Démare and Stefan Küng but a collision with Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) was enough to end that hope.

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A Tweet sent out by Groupama-FDJ said: "Jake Stewart is not able to take part in his 2nd Tour of Flanders on Sunday as he suffers from a fractured left hand due to the collision in the final sprint in Cholet-Pays de la Loire."

The British rider quoted the Tweet soon after, sharing his disappointment to miss his first chance to ride a Monument.

"We thought and was hoping that it was just superficial, but this morning's x-ray showed a fractured second metacarpal after Sunday's Cholet-Pays de la Loire. Gutted to say the least to be missing De Ronde this week, but full focus now for recovering and getting back on the bike."

The collision happened in the closing 200 metres of the race with Elia Viviani (Cofidis) launching his sprint. Stewart had made it onto the Italian's wheel but Bouhanni reacted quickly to try and get into Viviani's slipstream, claiming he did not know Stewart was there.

Bouhanni then said he counterbalanced to avoid falling pushing Stewart towards the barriers, which he amazingly managed to avoid, but the impact was enough to cause the fracture.

The Arkéa-Samsic rider has since apologised through a team press release where he said how he was sorry for what happened but that it was not intentional.

The UCI has called for an investigation into Bouhanni to take place to decide what sanctions are needed to be put on the rider.

This comes after a lot of focus has been put on how sprints take place due to the awful crash between Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) with the latter getting a nine-month suspension from racing.

Nacer Bouhanni has apologised to British rider Jake Stewart after shoving him into the barriers at the Cholet-Pays de la Loire on Sunday (March 28).

Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) was fighting to get into the lead in the final sprint when he drastically changed line, riding into the path of Stewart (Groupama-FDJ), as well as sticking out an elbow. Both riders somehow kept their bikes upright, but Bouhanni was subsequently disqualified. The sprint finish of the Frenc race was won by Elia Viviani (Cofidis).

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Arkéa-Samsic released a short statement from Bouhanni that said: "I'm sorry for Jake Stewart. The sprint went as follows: I see Elia Viviani launching and I want to take his wheel. I admit that my mistake was to change course to take his wheel. I didn't see Jake Stewart at this time.

"When we come into contact with each other I find myself unbalanced. I make up for it as best I can so as not to fall. I just wanted to take the slipstream [of Viviani] because the wind was coming from the right side, by no means was it intentional."

This is not the first time that Bouhanni has made a potentially dangerous manoeuvre in a sprint finish. At Paris-Nice in 2016 the former French champion was relegated after he pinned Michael Matthews on the barriers with the Australian, who was in the yellow jersey at the time, having to take drastic action.

Stewart tweeted after the incident at Cholet-Pays de la Loire: "Yo Nacer Bouhanni, I would ask you what you were thinking…but you clearly have no brain cells,” Stewart said on Twitter after the race. “The ironic thing is, you told me I had ‘no respect’ after the finish. Here’s an educational video of what ‘no respect’ looks like…" The 21-year-old then linked a tweet with a video of the incident.

The UCI decided that the incident was serious enough for it to be referred to its Disciplinary Commission to place the appropriate sanction on Bouhanni.

The dangers of irregular sprints have been under the microscope in recent months following the incident between Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) at the Tour of Poland last year, which left Jakobsen with horrific injuries he is still recovering from. Groenewegen received a nine-month ban from the UCI with Jakobsen having to undergo multiple reconstruction surgeries. Likewise the security of roadside barriers has been reassessed following the incident in Poland, with Belgian races, E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Ghent-Wevelgem, the first to use newly designed safety barriers in the finishing straights.

Shimano has announced it is extending its long-term partnership with French team Groupama-FDJ marking 25 years of collaboration, more than with any other team in the WorldTour.

Marc Madiot’s team has been running Shimano components since 1997 and the anniversary coincides with Shimano’s own, the Japanese company’s centenary that it celebrates in 2021.

The team, which has also been supported by the Française des Jeux lottery since two-time Paris-Roubaix winner Madiot set it up in 1997, has recorded over 530 victories including three Monuments and 35 Grand Tour stage victories on Shimano's flagship Dura-Ace groupset.

In that first year Frédéric Guesdon echoed his directeur sportif’s most famous victories with a win at Paris-Roubaix, while Christophe Mengin won a Tour de France stage and Davide Rebellin – who is still a pro aged 49 – won the Clasica San Sebastian and the GP Zurich.

That year their Gitane bikes were equipped with the now-iconic nine-speed Dura-Ace 7700, all gleaming polished aluminium.

Five years later Bradley Wiggins turned pro with FDJ, where he stayed for a year.

In 2012 Madiot memorably leant out of the window of the team car and banged on the door as he urged Thibaut Pinot to victory as the youngest rider in the Tour at age 22.

Pinot features on the 2021 team roster alongside current French national champion Arnaud Démare and European time trial champion Stefan Küng, who will all start the season on Lapierre Aircode (pictured) and Xelius bikes equipped with Shimano’s Di2 shifting and disc brake technology with the Dura-Ace R9170 groupset.

Shimano’s new Dura-Ace is expected to be unveiled later in 2021. Its usual product cycle would have seen Dura-Ace released in 2020 and Ultegra in 2021, but since the flagship groupset is now expected to be launched in line with the brand's 100-year anniversary, it remains to been seen where that leaves the next Ultegra iteration.

In a Shimano press release Madiot said: "It’s rather fitting that Shimano and Team Groupama-FDJ celebrate a historic anniversary in the year that Shimano themselves celebrate their centenary. Whether it’s a quarter of a century of celebrating success or 100 years of making revolutionary bike components, Shimano has an enviable record of helping its customers and partners deliver quality when and where it matters. We look forward to more anniversaries and special moments in the years to come.”

Shimano sponsorship manager Myron Walraven said: “Team Groupama-FDJ are one of the fundamental cornerstones of our sponsorship approach. Consistently delivering stellar performances in front of the cameras and working as a true partner behind the cameras, Shimano’s products are undoubtedly better thanks to the collaboration with Marc and the legendary riders under his leadership over the years.”

Groupama-FDJ kicked off their WorldTour calendar at the UAE Tour, which started on Sunday February 21, with Anthony Roux sprinting to seventh place.

Shimano has also today announced the continuation of its sponsorship of Team DSM, formerly Sunweb. DSM’s men’s, women’s and development programmes will continue to use Shimano's components and accessories including Dura-Ace groupsets, wheels, power meters and PRO saddles. They will also use the latest Shimano S-Phyre RC902 shoes.

Thibaut Pinot has abandoned the Vuelta a España 2020. 

The Groupama-FDJ rider has been struggling with a back injury he suffered on the opening stage of the Tour de France, which derailed his general classification hopes.

Pinot lined up at the Vuelta in the hopes of taking a consolation prize from 2020, but after losing 25 minutes in the opening two stages he has pulled out of the race.

Groupama-FDJ said before stage three: "Despite the rest period he observed, the first two stages of the Vuelta have shown Thibaut Pinot continues to suffer from the back pain he experienced after his crash at the Tour de France.

"With regard to the next season, priority is given to his complete recovery - he will not take the start of the third stage and will no longer compete in 2020."

In his pre-race race press conference, as reported by Cycling News, Pinot said he had not recovered from his crash on stage one in Nice, and said he would be supported his team-mate David Gaudu in the general classification race.

The 30-year-old said: "Since the Tour, my back has not recovered 100 per cent.

"I don't want to end the year at the Tour, and I hope the Vuelta can put me back on the right path, and help me into the winter. I'm counting on the Vuelta to give me the enjoyment that I've not had for quite a while now."

Pinot's misfortune in Grand Tours continues, after a string of huge disappointments in three week races, which started at last year's Tour de France.

The Frenchman has been among the strongest contenders in last year's Tour, but suffered a muscle tear in the final week and abandoned the race in tears on stage 19.

In the 2020 Tour, Pinot looked to be in great form after finishing second in the Critérium du Dauphiné, but his dreams of the yellow jersey fell to pieces on the opening stage of the Tour.

Pinot was caught in a crash in the closing kilometres of stage one in Nice and suffered a back injury when another rider hit him.

He made it through Paris despite the injury, finishing 29th overall, before lining up in Spain a month later.

But as the injury still lingered, Pinot lost 10 minutes on the brutal opening stage of the Vuelta in the Basque Country,

He then lost another 15 minutes on stage 10, before deciding not to take to the start of stage three.

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Groupama-FDJ's general classification hopes for Gaudu have also taken a blow, as he sits 3-20 down on the leader after two stags.

British fans faced disappointing news last week as it became clear there would be a shortage of GB team leaders in the Tour de France 2020. 

Team Ineos announced that both Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome would miss the race, while Bahrain-McLaren also revealed that Mark Cavendish wouldn’t be in the race. 

But there is some good news for UK cycling fans, as two exciting British prospects will be joining the WorldTour from 2021. 

Jake Stewart and Matthew Walls will both be making the jump to cycling’s highest level next year with two different teams, Groupama-FDJ and Bora-Hansgrohe.

Stewart, 20 years old from Coventry, has been racing with the Groupama-FDJ development squad but will be stepping up to the elite-level team next year after showing huge promise. 

Most recently he put in an outstanding performance in the Tour du Limousin with two second place stages finishes, second overall and victory in the youth competition. 

He also became a talking point on stage one when he celebrated a sprint for second place, while unaware that a lone breakaway rider had already taken victory further up the road. 

Matthew Walls, 22 from Oldham, has been a huge talent on the track having worked his way through the British Cycling talent programme, but now hopes to become a sprinter on the road with Bora-Hansgrohe.

He said: “In the past, I have ridden both track and road, and I think the track has given me the necessary top end speed to be successful in sprinting on the road. Tokyo [Olympics] remains a goal, but my priorities now lie on the road. Bora-Hansgrohe has developed many top sprinters, and that gives me a lot of confidence. Thanks to the team for this opportunity, I can't wait to contribute to their success.” 

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Bora talent scout Christian Schrot said: “Matthew completed British Cycling's talent development program on the track. We are confident that this foundation will enable him to cope well with the jump to the WorldTour. We will endeavour to bring him up to the necessary level in the next few years and build him up as a sprinter. With his speed, we believe that he possesses a strong basis for this.”    

While the pro racing scene has been frozen for the last few months, Groupama-FDJ are investing in their future by extending contracts with their four biggest stars.

The French WorldTour squad has re-signed Grand Tour hopeful Thibaut Pinot, rising star David Gaudu, sprinter Arnaud Démare and time trial specialist Stefan Küng through to 2023.

Many teams are facing an uncertain future in the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, but both of Groupama-FDJ’s title sponsors have committed to the team until 2024.

Team manager Marc Madiot said: “Extending this quartet of riders is an obvious decision. Each one of them brings his own contribution to the team.

“Since the team’s inception, we have always been and remain committed to our riders over the long term.

“Very often, they are riders who have become professionals with us so that we have a relationship of trust and very high ambitions. I remain convinced that in order to achieve extremely high sporting goals, you have to be committed to the long term.”

Groupama-FDJ made no secret that their main ambition is to win a Grand Tour, as Pinot said he wants to commit himself to winning the Tour de France.

The Frenchman had the 2019 Tour within his grasp heading into the final few days of racing, but he was forced to abandon the race on stage 19 after suffering muscle damage to his leg that ruled him out of the for the rest of the season.

But Pinot still hopes to deliver on his potential, having finished third in the Tour back in 2013.

The 30-year-old said: “Leaving, when I arrive in my best years would have left me with a taste of unfinished business. I haven’t finished writing my story with this team. I’m firmly convinced that we’re still going to build great things and win the best races. The Tour de France is obviously still the ultimate goal for which I want to devote myself 100 per cent.

Groupama are also looking to the future be re-signing 23-year-old David Gaudu, who looks to be at the forefront of the next generation of French Grand Tour contenders.

Gaudu picked up a WorldTour stage victory at the Tour de Romandie last year and went in to finish 13th overall in the 2019 Tour.

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He said: “Today we can say that my learning phase is over. From now on I will be able to play a more assertive role within the team and the sports management will also have high expectations of me. I’ll be there to help my leaders win certain races, but I’ll also be aiming to win races that are meant for me. The next three years are going to be exciting and I’m lucky that the team is offering me these great opportunities. “

Groupama-FDJ unveiled a new time trial machine for 2020 on stage four of Paris-Nice.

The French WorldTeam brought out the new Lappierre disc machine for the 15.1km test around Saint-Amand-Montrond in central France, with the bike helping the squad take a top-10 result.

Groupama revealed on Twitter that stage four was the first outing for the new Lapierre Aerostorm disc.

The team worked Belgian aerodynamics expert Bert Blocken, from the Eindhoven University of Technology to maximise the time gains for their riders in the TTs.

Groupama said on Twitter: “Today is the first outing of our new time trial bike, the Lapierre Aerostorm Disc.

“The machine, which attracts many curious people, will be used by Stefan Küng and Thibaut Pinot.”

Complete with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, including the Dura-Ace aero wheels, the team were running the machine in all black without the usual branding.

The bike carried Swiss time trial specialist Stefan Küng to eighth place on the stage, 26 seconds behind winner Søren Kragh Ansdersen, on a course more suited to a punchy rider than the pure tester.

Küng said: “I took time on the fastest part, but not enough.

When you reach the finish, the first thought that comes to you is that you would like to go back to the course and save less on the pedal. I could do better.

“It's a shame because the bike is extraordinary.”

Pinot put in a less impressive performance however, finishing 26th on the stage and losing time to his general classification rivals.

The French Grand Tour hopeful now sits 14th overall, 1-30 down on race leader Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

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Earlier this week, CCC Team shared detailed pictures of Ilnur Zakarin’s striking Giant Trinity time trial bike for the 2020 season, complete with Cadex aero wheels.

Zakarin has switched to CCC from Katusha-Alpecin as he continues to chase his general classification dreams.

Groupama-FDJ's Bruno Armirail was forced to fly home in just the clothes he was wearing without any of his belongings due to the ongoing quarantine at the UAE Tour.

Following stage five of the Middle Eastern race the French rider came down with a slight cold, usually nothing to worry about, except that health authorities had detected two cases of coronavirus among the rest of the peloton and support staff that day. Therefore, Armirail was carted off to hospital while the hotel was placed on lockdown and the final two stages cancelled.

While the rest of the teams in the race bunkered down for the quarantine, Armirail was kept in hospital on his own for four days. He was "tested, retested and re-retested" according to Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot, but each time returned a negative test.

"The authorities came to look for Bruno to take him to a hospital that was not even operational anymore, which he found himself in for four days, all by himself," Madiot told L'Équipe, with his rider eventually demanding to be released from the hospital. "He was tested, retested, retested and every time the result was negative. He ended up wondering what the hell he was doing there...and then suddenly, without explanation, they let him go."

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While a number of teams and their staff were soon allowed to go home, Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ and Gazprom-RusVelo are all still being held on the fourth floor of their hotel because they were on the same floor as the two Italian staff members who were initially suspected to have virus.

Armirail tried to return to the hotel after being released from hospital but was not allowed back inside the building. Instead, the 25-year-old had no other option but to make his way to the airport and fly home in the clothes he was wearing, shorts and a t-shirt, and without his bags. Armirail is now said to be back at his home in Pau while his team-mates, including David Gaudu and Arnaud Démare, remain locked inside their UAE hotel until the 14-day quarantine period is over.

Having numerous personnel trapped on another continent has forced Groupama-FDJ to pull out of Strade Bianche, GP Larciano  and Tirreno-Adriatico, before Strade Bianche was cancelled by race organisers due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Italy.

"No Strade Bianche or GP Larciano [for us] this year," Armirail said. "So I will continue my preparation for the rest of the season. Good luck to my roommate David Gaudu as well as to the entire team of riders and staff who are still stuck in the UAE for a little while. Don't give up, you could be released any minute."

Riders still quarantined in the UAE can now get back to training after they had bikes and turbo trainers delivered to their rooms.

There are currently three teams – Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ and Gazprom-RusVelo -being held in their Abu Dhabi hotel after the UAE Tour was abandoned because of a coronavirus.

Health authorities in the country say there are six new cases of the Covid-19 virus, apparently connected to two previous cases on the race.

On Wednesday evening, the UCI announced that the riders being held would be released by March 14 at the latest, meaning they will have been kept in their hotel rooms for more than two weeks.

Thanks to the race organiser RCS, the riders in the hotel have been given their bikes and turbo trainers so they can keep their fitness up while they’re under quarantine.

Cofidis rider Nathan Haas said on Instagram: “Never in my life have I been so happy to be doing an ergo. Finally moving my body after six days.

“Thanks to the crew here in Abu Dhabi who accessed me a trainer and bike earlier this morning. Then about half an hour after the bike arrived we got the news that our teams that the team bikes were going to be released from the paddock. So finally we have exercise.

“I think I can actually see the light now that I can use my body and keep my brain sane.”

Groupama-FDJ has been forced to announce it will not be able to race in the coming weeks because of the quarantine.

A statement from the team said: “Lacking sufficient numbers of available riders and staff, partly due to the quarantine period observed in the UAE, our team regrets to announce its inability to take part in upcoming Strade Bianche [since cancelled], GP Larciano and Tirreno-Adriatico.”

>>> Strade Bianche has been cancelled 

According to the Abu Dhabi authorities and the UCI, six people still under quarantine have tested positive for Covid-19 and have been taken to hospital for monitoring.

Those who have been in contact with the patients are being kept in their rooms for more tests.

A statement from cycling’s international governing body said: “The UCI continues to closely follow the situation and is committed to ensuring that all those concerned can return home as soon as possible. It is also taking care that there is optimal communication with the concerned teams so that they are informed on a daily basis of the evolution of the situation.”

David Gaudu - Groupama-FDJ

French hopeful Thibaut Pinot offered countless memorable moments at this year’s Tour de France, but it's his young lieutenant who facilitated plenty of those daring exploits out on the road.

David Gaudu is only 22 years old, riding his second Tour de France, but rode with the head and legs of a veteran.

Riding as a mountain domestique for Pinot, fellow Frenchman Gaudu’s most impressive show came on stage 14 to the summit of the Tourmalet, where he hit the front on the final climb and set a fearsome pace.

That work set Pinot up for an emphatic stage victory and pulled him right back into the overall fight.

While it ended in disaster for Pinot, who was forced to pull out on the penultimate mountain stage, Gaudu confirmed his blossoming talent by finishing second in the youth classification behind overall winner Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), also 22.

Gaudu’s 13th place finish on general classification also sets him up as a serious Grand Tour contender in future years.

George Bennett – Jumbo-Visma

Another mountain MVP was Jumbo-Visma’s George Bennett.

In the opening week Kiwi Bennett held his own on GC, sitting fourth overall before any hopes of a strong placing were dashed when he was one of a slew of riders caught out in crosswinds on stage 10 to Albi.

But the 29-year-old, who has finished in the top 10 of both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, seamlessly stepped into a support role for Steven Kruijswijk in the mountains.

>>> ‘Hopefully I can find joy from riding my bike’: Michał Kwiatkowski will skip next race after disappointing Tour de France

It’s hard to pinpoint a stand-out performance from Bennett because he was so consistent, but the shortened final mountain stage to Val Thorens was particularly worthy of note, as he blasted the front of the race for the first half of the seemingly endless final climb, helping Kruijswijk onto the podium.

Dylan van Baarle – Team Ineos

Team Ineos had plenty to be disappointed about in the first 18 stages of the Tour de France, whether it be narrowly missing out on team time trial victory, again on the stage 13 individual time trial, their difficulty in overthrowing Julian Alaphilippe,  or the struggling of their traditionally reliable domestiques.

While Michał Kwiatkowski and Gianni Moscon were unable to provide the valuable support of previous years, another Ineos rider stepped up.

Dylan van Baarle was riding his first Tour as part of the British outfit, having missed out on selection last year, and was determined to prove his worth on all terrain.

A strong time triallist, Van Baarle was a big engine for the team time trial and guiding the peloton, while his Classics pedigree helped him help the team on chaotic days like stage three to Épernay.

But the 27-year-old was also an asset in the mountains, particularly on the dramatic stage 18 (Bahrain-Merida) and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).

The Dutchman sat up to then support his team-mates on the Col de l’Iseran, where Egan Bernal took the yellow jersey.

Max Richeze – Deceuninck – Quick-Step

It wasn’t just the mountains where the unsung heroes shone through, with Quick-Step’s Max Richeze perhaps the lead-out rider most deserving of plaudits.

The Belgian team have mastered the ever-evolving art of the lead-out, being able to place Elia Viviani perfectly in any type of fast finish, from technical and narrow to a pure-speed drag race.

>>> Still not clear when Wout van Aert will race again after Tour de France crash

Former sprinter Richeze helped Viviani to his only stage win of this year’s Tour and plenty more near misses, but his most notable achievement was his fourth place finish on the Champs-Élysées stage.

The Argentinian national champion lost his sprinter in the chaotic final, with Viviani hitting the final straight outside of the top-10 places, and without missing a beat Richeze stepped into the sprinters role, chasing down Edvald Boasson Hagen but being bested by younger men at the line.

Cees Bol – Sunweb

Sunweb suffered a disappointing Tour de France, having lost their leader Tom Dumoulin before the race even started and with Michael Matthews off his best form.

But there was hope for optimism in the form of their young Dutch sprinter and lead-out rider Cees Bol, riding his first Grand Tour.

Bol, 24, helped Matthews to a fourth-place finish on stage 10 to Albi, before taking the reins as sprinter the following day and finishing eighth in Toulouse.

He was forced to abandon the race on stage 16 along with Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang and Sunweb may have left without a victory, but the work of Bol bought them very close and his own potential as a sprinter means his time will no doubt come soon enough.

Groupama-FDJ promise to fight back in the 2019 Tour de France after Thibaut Pinot lost 1-40 minutes to top rival Geraint Thomas (Ineos).

The Frenchman was on the wrong side when the race split in echelons formed in the crosswinds heading towards Albi, finish host of stage 10.

>>> Movistar left in shock as Mikel Landa crash sends him down Tour de France overall rankings

"We'll get back to work, there are two weeks left and that's a lot," said Pinot's team-mate Matthieu Ladagnous. "Tomorrow we will rest and then talk about it."

Pinot lost time with others including Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Jakob Fuglsang (Team Astana) and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First) when the break happened in the group at 35km to race.

Team Ineos and Deceuninck-Quick-Step drove the peloton and time into their rivals

"It was a tough day. There are times when you don't have luck, we found ourselves a little behind at the wrong time," Ladagnous added.

"We will come back! Losing 1-40 is silly but with all the mountains ahead, it is not that much either!"

Pinot would not speak, just saying, "It was a s****y day" at the finish line.

The Frenchman, third in the 2014 Tour de France, had led the virtual classification ahead of stage 10. He had 19 seconds on Thomas, but 24 hours later, he slid from third to 11th overall at 1-21 minutes behind Thomas.

"It's a bad day," agreed sports director Philippe Mauduit.

"But there are days when you miss out. We messed around a bit when we had to be there. The guys got a little lost and the move happened right then.

"This is not a problem of team cohesion but a moment of panic in the pack. Several favourites were trapped, it's cycling."

Thomas, sitting second, now leads the virtual classification the with four seconds on his team-mate Egan Bernal, 15 on Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), 35 on Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), 52 on Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team). But there are two weeks remaining until the race ends in Paris.

"The story is not written yet, we will know in Paris what this means. The most difficult part of the Tour is left to tackle. We will take the time tomorrow to take stock together," continued Mauduit.

"It is normal that Thibaut is disappointed and upset, but it is not the end of the Tour. Nothing is done, I guarantee you!"

After tomorrow's rest day, the Tour continues with stage 11, a time trial in stage 13 and the big mountains, including the Tourmalet, still to come.

One month after being struck by a car, 18-year-old Italian hopeful Samuele Manfredi is awake from a coma and is transferring to a specialised hospital.

The junior winner of Ghent-Wevelgem, second in Paris-Roubaix and European pursuit champion, had been in a medically induced coma since being hit while training along the Italian Riviera on December 10.

The incident occurred in Toirano, six kilometres from his home in Loano, as he returned home from training.

"We have good news to share," wrote Groupama-FDJ on Tuesday on Twitter.

"Yesterday, Samuele Manfredi woke up from the induced coma he was kept in after his accident on December 10. He is no longer in a life-threatening condition and will now start a long recovery process."

He was due to ride with Groupama-FDJ's continental feeder team in this 2019 season. The professional team includes stars Arnaud Démare and Thibaut Pinot.

Instead, Manfredi heads from the Ligurian coast that hosts the Milan-San Remo final every spring to the neighbouring province of Emilia-Romagna. He will stay under observation at Ferrara's centre specialized in neuro-rehabilitation as he recovers.

Doctors woke him from his coma following 35 days in Pietra Ligure's hospital. He had suffered what was then described as "serious head trauma." A driver behind the wheel of Fiat Panda accelerated from a stop without seeing the him.

He reportedly is able to keep his eyes open now but is still not conscious.

The 6-foot-2 and 80kg rider made a long 110km escape and bettered his two companions to win Ghent-Wevelgem in 2018. There, the organisers called him to celebrate the victory on the podium with the professional men's winner and world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Later in the year, he placed second in the junior Paris-Roubaix and won individual pursuit gold at the Junior European Championships.

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) took victory in a bunch sprint on stage 18 of the 2018 Tour de France as he got the better of Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).

On what was effectively a day off for the yellow jersey of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and the rest of the general classification contenders, the teams of the few remaining sprinters in the race kept a tight control on the break in order to make sure they didn't miss out on the last flat stage before Paris.

>>> Five talking points from stage 18 of the 2018 Tour de France

Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates worked hard throughout the day to ensure a bunch sprint in Pau, but it was Bora-Hansgrohe who took control through the final five kilometres with Peter Sagan looking to bounce back from his heavy crash on stage 17.

Bora-Hansgrohe led until 1.7km to go, before Trek-Segafredo took over with Jasper Stuyven trying to set up John Degenkolb in the final kilometre.

However with 500m remaining Groupama-FDJ moved back to the front with Jacopo Guarnieri moving Démare into a perfect position within sight of the line.

Sprinting from the front Démare was always going to be hard to beat, and the 26-year-old duly held off compatriot Christophe Laporte and Alexander Kristoff to take his second Tour de France win.

Meanwhile there was no change in the general classification as all of the main contenders finished safely in the main bunch ahead of a crucial day in the Pyrenees on Friday.

How it happened

After two tough days in the Pyrenees, and with one mountain day and a crucial time trial still to come, the riders of the 2018 Tour de France got an easier parcours on stage 18 with a flat 171km between Trie-sur-Baïse and Pau.

As expected there were plenty of early attacks with Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mat Hayman and Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott), and Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) going clear early on.

However those five riders were never allowed much of a lead as Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates controlled the lead as they tried to set up a bunch sprint for Arnaud Démare and Alexander Kristoff.

Unfortunately for those teams, the small gap of just over a minute was sure to encourage counter-attacks and Trek-Segafredo duly obliged as Michael Gogl and Jasper Stuyven attacked with Sep Vanmarcke in the wheels with 110km to go.

That sparked panic in the group behind that caused a crash with Nairo Quintana and Movistar team-mate Andrey Amador to hit the deck, the Colombian needing treatment for a gash to his left elbow as he made his way back to the bunch.

With Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates being vigilant, the counter-attack didn't last long, but the peloton continued to keep the break on a short least at around 1-30.

That gap remained unchanged for much of the day as diminutive Colombian climber Jarlinson Pantano (UAE Team Emirates) did an impressive amount of work on what what was not his natural terrain.

With 32km to go the gap to the peloton came down below a minute for the first time, and from there only went in one direction as it hit 30 seconds just 11km later.

The catch was made with 17km to go with Groupama-FDJ upping the pace on the front of the bunch and stringing the bunch out with some distance to go to the finish.

Unsurprisingly, after spending the entire day chasing, Groupama-FDJ soon faded from the front, allowing Bora-Hansgrohe - who had done no chasing whatsoever - to move to take over with Peter Sagan clearly not feeling the effects of his heavy crash on stage 17.

With four kilometres to go Sagan dropped back to keep an eye on his rivals while his team continued to work on the front, before things started to get a little messy as riders bunched up behind.

Finally with 1.7km to go UAE Team Emirates reappeared at the front with Alexander Kristoff high up in second wheel, before fading back as Cofidis led into the final kilometre.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) was the first round the final bend with 500m to go, but Groupama-FDJ moved back to the front with Jacopo Guarnieri moving Démare into a perfect position within sight of the line.

Sprinting from the front Démare was always going to be hard to beat, and the 26-year-old duly held off compatriot Christophe Laporte and Alexander Kristoff to take his second Tour de France win.

Results

Tour de France 2018, stage 18: Trie-sur-Baïse and Pau, 171km

1. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 3-46-50

2. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis

3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates

4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

5. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

6. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors

7. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

8. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

9. Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac

10. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, all at same time

General classification after stage 18

1. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, in 74-21-01

2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-59

3. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 2-31

4. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo,at 2-47

5. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 3-30

6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 4-19

7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 4-34

8. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 5-13

9. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, at 6-33

10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 9-31

The UCI disciplinary commission has dropped the case against Team Sky's Gianni Moscon, who had been accused of pushing and causing Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) to crash in a race last October 3.

Reichenbach said that Moscon purposely caused him to crash in the 2017 Tre Valli Varesine. The Swiss rider broke his elbow and fractured his hip in the fall. The incident came after the alleged racist remarks that Moscon made to former FDJ team-mate Kévin Reza.

It is welcome news for Moscon, who is set to help Chris Froome in the 2018 Tour de France next month.

"Team Sky welcome the decision by the UCI to dismiss the case against Gianni Moscon," said a Team Sky spokesperson.

"It has been a lengthy process during which an independent panel heard evidence from all parties and found that there was not a case to answer.

"These were serious allegations which Gianni and the team have always strongly contested."

The Italian faced six to 12 months of suspension given the seriousness of the allegations. The UCI's disciplinary commission called in both parties on April 9, the day after Moscon raced Paris-Roubaix.

Moscon remained for 11 hours before the commission adjourned. With no video footage of the Tre Valli Varesine incident, the commission had to piece together details. It gathered testimony from Sky team-mate Kenny Elissonde, who raced with FDJ for years, and Nicola Graffurini della Sangemini and Marco Zamparella (Team Amore e Vita riders in 2017).

The 24-year-old Italian said at the time: "We were on a section of rough road and Reichenbach's hands slipped from his handlebars."

Reichenbach said that "it was deliberate, and several riders who were at the scene."

He claimed the incident was retaliation to his Twitter post that claimed Moscon used "racist slurs" against Kévin Reza.

Team Sky suspended Moscon for six weeks over the Reza incident in the 2017 Tour de Romandie. He also attended a diversity awareness course.

Moscon had support from the team in the recent case with Reichenbach.

"We back Gianni and he has our full support. We are pleased he can now get on with racing with a line now drawn under this episode," Team Sky said.

"He is a very talented young bike rider who will have much to contribute to the Team over the coming months and years."

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) will have to miss the Tour de France after problems in the Giro d'Italia ruined his plans to race the double.

The Frenchman had a super spring. He won the Tour of the Alps ahead of Chris Froome (Sky) and rode as high as third overall in the Giro d'Italia before disaster struck with one day to race.

>>> Vincenzo Nibali aiming for more consistency at Tour de France after ‘suffering’ in Dauphiné

"I resumed riding yesterday just to get on the bike and think of something else," Pinot told AFP.

"I was riding for fun, to clear my head. The problem with this illness is that I don't know when I can return."

The rides around eastern France in Lure are not enough for Pinot to consider returning in time for the Tour. The Frenchman already won stages in the Tour and placed third overall in 2014 behind winner Vincenzo Nibali.

Without Pinot, France's hopes hinge on Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), who finished third in 2017 behind winner Chris Froome and Rigoberto Urán.

Pinot planned on riding both the Giro and Tour this 2018 season, and began the Giro as a favourite with his win in the Tour of the Alps. His consistency, and bonus seconds with several second and third place finishes, put him third overall with one mountain stage to race.

Froome began the last stage as race leader after his solo ride to Jafferau to take the pink jersey from Simon Yates the day beforehand. Pinot began with doubts on how he would make it to Cervinia.

"The Friday was one of the great moments of my career with a legendary stage [to Jafferau]. That evening, I climbed onto the podium. I was confident. I only had to take care of the next day," explained Pinot.

"But on Saturday morning, I knew. From the time I went to bed the previous evening, I was coughing and I only slept three or four hours. In the morning I did not feel well, feverish. I got over the first climb with the top riders, I don't know how. But on the descent, despite the heat, I felt cold."

He slipped from third at 4-17 minutes to 16th at 43-46. Continuing to finish the final flat stage in Rome was not even an option.

That Saturday night, the French WorldTour team had called an ambulance because when Pinot arrived to the hotel he was suffering from dehydration and fever.

Pinot must consider the rest of the season and explained he does not want to jeopardise his chances in the Vuelta a España and World Championship later this year.

The Vuelta a España starts on August 25 and the Worlds comes one month later, September 30.

As announced on Twitter it looks that Groupama-FDJ will be using a brand new bike from the French brand Lapierre ahead of the 101st Giro d'Italia this year.

The new bike has Xelius SL written on the top tube but on face value looks to have borrowed a number of aspects from number of bikes in Lapierre range. Eagle eyed viewers can see an Aircode looking head tube, seat tube and seatpost whilst you get a similar cut out at the rear end as the Xelius, which looks to be bigger and more exaggerated than its 2017 version.

The Xelius SL is what the climbers use mostly at the Grand Tours, being Lapierre's comforting and lightweight racing bike. So it looks like Lapierre hopes to get some aerodynamic efficiency in the frame without effecting the weight or comfort of the bike.

We have press shots from two bikes one belonging to Georg Preidler and the other, of course, belongs to Thibaut Pinot, who has specific graphics along his top tube to denote his major wins during his career, with major climbs and heights in meters alongside them.

As expected you see full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 throughout, along with deep carbon wheels, apart from Pinot's SRM chainset. Both riders have Prologo looking after the saddle and Elite supplying the bottles and cages.

The Lapierre Xelius SL is a striking bike mostly thanks to that unique rear end. Lapierre says this is to help comfort levels and joining the rear stays directly to the top tube helps eliminate all the vibration from the road straight into the bike rather than the rider and it doesn't change the aspect of how the bike rides.

Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) was the slightly unexpected victor at the end of an aggressive final hour of racing on stage six of Paris-Nice.

The 28-year-old Frenchman took just the second victory of his professional career as he bided his time before launching two attacks in the final two kilometres, the second of which with 1,300m to go getting him enough of a gap to be able to sit up and straighten his jersey as he crossed the line.

Earlier, a first-category climb with 10km remaining decimated the peloton, with race leader Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) briefly being in difficulty before regaining contact, and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) attacking over the top.

The fast descent that followed brought disaster for Wout Poels (Team Sky) who crashed into a roadside barrier and was forced to abandon the race, while Yates was eventually caught with four kilometres remaining.

From there a few more attacks flew off the front, before Molard launched his decisive move shortly before the flamme rouge.

The yellow jersey of Sanchez finished in a group just two seconds later, meaning the Spaniard will hold on to the race lead going into Saturday's potentially decisive summit finish at Valdeblore La Colmiane.

>>> Paris-Nice 2018 live TV guide

How it happened

Stage six of Paris-Nice saw the peloton tackle the hilliest stage of the race so far, covering 198km from Sisteron to Vence and traversing four climbs including a first category ascent just nine kilometres from the line.

The early part of the race saw a group of 13 riders get away: Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Carlos Barbero (Movistar), Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Bert Van Lerberghe and Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal), Amaël Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic), Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tom Scully (EF Education First-Drapac), and Fabian Grellier (Direct Energie).

Their task in the early part of the stage was aided somewhat as the peloton managed to take a wrong turn in the first few kilometres, before the bunch got itself in order and set about keeping the gap at no more than three minutes.

However the day's numerous ascents slowly whittled down the front group with only De Gendt, Grellier, Moinard and Scully still out front by the top of the Côte de Gourdon with 40km remaining.

A long descent followed that climb, and saw the start of the action in the peloton behind, which was now less than a minute behind the break.

Wout Poels (Team Sky) put in a small dig over the top to make sure he was in a good position for the winding descent, before Team Sky and Mitchelton-Scott combined on the front to raise the pace, just as race leader Luis Leon Sanchez suffered an ill-timed mechanical.

Thankfully for the Astana rider the bike change from a team-mate was swift, and after a few kilometres of frantic chasing he was back in the main group with the breakaway caught and less than 20km to go.

However even with Sanchez back in the pack, Mitchelton-Scott continued to drive the pace on the run-in to the first category climb of the Côte de la Colle sur Loup.

The Australian team continued to lead onto the climb before Dries Devenyns, working for Quick-Step Floors team-mate Julian Alaphilippe took over while the steep gradients caused devastation behind with riders fighting their bikes and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) suffering a mechanical problem and having to rely on a spectator for a push to get him back up to speed.

At the front of the race few of the GC contenders seemed willing to attack, with two accelerations each from Wout Poels and Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r La Mondiale) causing a quick reaction that meant neither of them were able to get away.

Those accelerations did mean that the yellow jersey of Sanchez was briefly dropped dropped, before Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) made another move to try and get away on the descent.

Yates flew down the descent prompting a flurry of activity behind which saw Wout Poels crash heavily, hitting a roadside barrier but appearing not to be seriously injured as he was helped up by a police motorcyclist.

Meanwhile Yates was still pushing on in front, using an unclassified ramp to eek out a few more seconds of an advantage with six kilometres remaining while Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) tried to work for Sanchez behind.

The British rider only had a slender gap, but he soon enjoyed a bit of help as Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) bridged across and went straight to the front to bring the gap up to just over 10 seconds with four kilometres to go.

The gap was small enough to encourage attacks, and as soon as Fuglsang swung off the move came from Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) who pulled a small group along with him, including Sanchez, to create a group of 16 riders at the front.

Also in that group was Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), and as they approached the flamme rouge the Frenchman put in a huge gap which no one seemed willing to chase.

Wrestling his bike from side to side, Molard's technique might not have been textbook but it was certainly effective as he was able to hold his advantage up the finishing straight, and have time to point to the Groupama-FDJ jersey as he crossed the line.

Results

Paris-Nice 2018, stage six: Sisteron to Vence (198km)

1. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 4-40-05 4:40:05

2. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 2 secs

3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors

4. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Astana

5. Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb

6. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing

7. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

8. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott

9. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida

10. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, all at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Astana, in 22-25-33

2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors, at 22 secs

3. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar Team, at 26 secs

4. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 34 secs

5. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 35 secs

6. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 42 secs

7. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 45 secs

8. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, at 46 secs

9. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott, at 48 secs

10. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 54 secs

Groupama-FDJ, which will be the name of the current FDJ from Paris-Nice onwards, have revealed their new kit with the team maintaining the white, blue, and red look which it has had since its formation in 1997.

Unveiled at a team presentation in Paris, the new jersey retains the colour scheme of the old kit, but with more white on the front of the jersey and a red sleeve. This is despite new sponsor Groupama having a green corporate logo.

There is also the return of a little grey on the front of the jersey, perhaps a nod to the team's white and grey kit from the early 2000s.

>>> FDJ team to become Groupama-FDJ in 2018 with big budget increase

The team also continued with the policy of going without sponsors' logos on the front of national champions' jerseys, with French champion Arnaud Démare and Dutch champion Ramon Sinkeldam appearing at the presentation in their blue, white, and red jerseys.

The team will debut its new kit and its new name at Paris-Nice, which starts in Chatou on March 4.

Watch: Which pro has the fastest aero bike?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcdwTRh3sGo

The sponsorship of insurance giant Groupama will reportedly see the team's budget rising from €16m to €20m despite a reduction in the contribution by French national lottery FDJ, which is looking at opportunities to invest in other sports, particularly surrounding the 2024 Olympics which will be held in Paris.

The increased budget will also allow Groupama-FDJ to create a development team racing at Continental level, which will wear the same kit and share resources with the WorldTour squad.

>>> Which WorldTour team has the best kit for 2018?

There will also be an increase the budget in the FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope women's team, which will see its funding doubled and its future secured until at least 2020.

It was also confirmed that star rider Thibaut Pinot both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2018. Last year the Frenchman finished fourth overall in the Giro d'Italia, but struggled at the Tour, abandoning the race on stage 17.

French team FDJ will be called Groupama-FDJ from next season after securing new sponsorship from insurance group Groupama.

The deal will come into effect at the start of March, meaning that the team will race under its new name and wearing new kit for the first time at Paris-Nice.

Despite Groupama's green corporate logo, L'Equipe reports that the team's kit will remain predominantly white and blue, as it has done for its whole 20-year history, and that the French champion's tricolour jersey will remain free of sponsors' logos.

>>> Jonathan vaughters reveals the bold decisions made to save Cannondale-Drapac team

Like Ag2r La Mondiale, Groupama is a major provider of insurance within France, and will provide investment that will increase the team's budget from €16 million to €20 million for next season.

This increase is despite a reduction in the contribution by French national lottery FDJ, which is looking at opportunities to invest in other sports, particularly surrounding the 2024 Olympics which will be held in Paris.

The increased budget will also allow Groupama-FDJ to create a development team racing at Continental level, which will wear the same kit and share resources with the WorldTour squad.

Watch: Tour de France 2018 route guide

Reacting to the news of his new sponsor, team general manager Marc Madiot said that he welcomed the investment in the team, and had no worries about the team losing its identity with FDJ not being the principal sponsor for the first time in the team's history.

"It's a big boost to the team," Madiot said. "20 years ago, we started like a small grocery store trying to become a great company. The agreement reached between the FDJ and Groupama companies will allow us to go further.

>>> Team Sky finalise 2018 roster with signing of promising Italian Leonardo Basso

"I would like to say thank you to FDJ. For 20 years, there has been great cohesion between the team and the sponsor. We follow the same philosophy. And that's also the case with Groupama.

"This agreement is the beginning of something else. You have to live with the times, adapt to changes. In my role as manager, I keep abreast of the evolution of my sport so that I can react on a daily basis and keep my vision of the team."

Sébastian Reichenbach (FDJ) is appealing for any fans that may have footage of the incident between him and Sky rider Gianni Moscon at Tre Valli Varesine to come forward.

The Swiss was left with a fractured elbow and hip after crashing at Tre Valli Varesine, accusing Moscon of intentionally pushing him to the ground. Reichenbach claimed that the incident was in retaliation for a Tweet he made about Moscon over the alleged racial abuse from Moscon towards FDJ rider Kevin Reza at the Tour de Romandie.

Moscon was suspended by Team Sky for six weeks after the incident, but has denied intentionally making Reichenbach crash, saying that he crashed because his "hands slipped from his handlebars" and that he had "never spoken to him in my life.”

According to Swiss site Blick.ch, Reichenbach is now looking for further evidence than rider testimony to support his case with the UCI, including any fan footage. The 28-year-old is currently recovering after having hip surgery.

"It is going to be difficult," Reichenbach said. "But it's about making an example. There is no other solution. He has to pay for it."

"Moscon intentionally downed me. This has been confirmed by various other athletes. They are ready to testify for me.

"Maybe a fan filmed the situation. However, so far, I have had no success.”

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Moscon has previously responded to the allegations, saying "when the truth comes out, I do not have to fear anything," however his team have declined to comment thus far, simply saying that "it is right and fair that the full facts are established and that those involved first have the opportunity to provide their own view through the proper channels."

FDJ manager Marc Madiot has been clear that the team will look for compensation if Moscon is found guilty, saying early in October that "it will be up to the [UCI] Disciplinary Commission to decide what happens. But it's clear, if the investigation confirms what my rider said, then I'll seek damages."

23-year-old Moscon has been under the spotlight on numerous occasions this season, including being disqualified from the World Championships road race for holding onto a car.