On Tuesday, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team unveiled three new riders for the 2024: Frenchmen Clément Russo and Rémy Rochas as well as the Norwegian Sven Erik Bystrøm. In this short interview, Marc Madiot talks about the philosophy that shaped this year’s signings, with the main point being the trust for the current and future leaders of the team.
Marc, the first three signings for 2024 have just been made official. Why did the team choose them?
To be very simple, they are solid and consistent riders who can play a domestique role for our leaders at the highest level, on different terrains, for the Classics and the Grand Tours in particular. In modern cycling, you need to ride in front, together, so we wanted riders capable of riding at the head of the peloton, fighting for positions, or riders who can get over the climbs well and be up there on a mountain stage. That was our goal, while taking into account the riders leaving the team.
“Changing leaders every year is not our mentality”
What is the overall philosophy for this year’s signings?
We want to keep believing in what we have started to build this year, with confirmed leaders who remain on the team and the rise in power of youngsters who have just arrived: Lenny Martinez, Romain Grégoire, Sam Watson, Paul Penhoët and the others. We had neither the vocation nor the objective of finding other leaders. We have a different reasoning with our young talents from the Conti team, so we are continuing on this path by strengthening our potential around these guys.
Theoretically, some might have thought that with two leaders leaving, one or two leaders would have come onboard.
I am confident. We have entered a sporting logic and we try to make it successful and to develop it. I can see the doubts about what we do or who we sign, but it is done on a purely sporting logic. It may not be flashy, but the goal is to be in line with what we have developed with our partners, Groupama and FDJ. From the outside, people can be perplexed, but I keep moving forward. What matters is that we keep efficiency, logic and consistency in everything we do. We won’t go from left to right and from right to left just for fun and because someone thinks “this one is good, we should sign him”. If you invest in young talents but you don’t put them in the right situation or you don’t allow them to be leaders, then there’s no point in taking them. Changing leaders every year is not our mentality. It may come as a surprise in the world we live in, which is quite volatile, but we try not to be so. Some expected us to sign leaders, but we already have our leaders! These leaders are already on the team, and they will move up a rung.
Is this philosophy a bit risky?
Riders leaving is part of a cycling team’s life, and in such a case, you have to try to anticipate. This is what we wanted to do with the rise of the Conti’s youngsters. We had already done it with Pinot, Démare, then with the Madouas/Gaudu generation and we now have the Martinez, Grégoire & co. This is the reason why we are not looking for leaders elsewhere. I’m confident because it is our principle, and this philosophy is part of the team’s DNA. We have always been more interested in young riders than in spectacular signings. We are in line with what we have always done for twenty-five years. The losses are indisputable, but it is also a great challenge. What lies ahead is exciting.
“We have to make as little mistakes as possible”
Was there ever any question of reinvesting potential economic “gains” in new riders?
No, because we have never been tempted to look for ‘’stars’’ elsewhere. I say it again, but we have a different mentality. If we want to invest, we do it with people who are with us. Apart from that, budgets are also getting tighter as operating costs are getting higher and higher. Today, we race the Grand Tours at a loss. There are additional costs to the team’s operation which are extremely important, much more than they were a few years ago. We also need to take this into account.
How does it influence your position on the transfer market?
The market is currently experiencing very high inflation. The problem is quite simple. Today there are multinational teams, belonging to billionaires or states, which have almost unlimited budgets. It is obviously more difficult to go with the flow for teams like ours. We are in another niche. Let’s be clear, we cannot do what UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers, Jumbo-Visma are doing. It may sound simple, but we try not to overspend on the choices we make. If you fail in scouting and developing youngsters, you pay for it 2-3 years later. If you make the wrong choices in signings, you pay for it almost immediately. We have no room for error. We need to be good and make as few mistakes as possible.
In addition to Thibaut and Arnaud, other domestiques/semi-leaders will leave the team. Is it a blow?
This is part of the team’s life, but there again, you need to make decisions and choices by trying to make as few mistakes as possible, and with the same reasoning. Our recruitment focused on domestiques capable of playing an important role alongside a leader. They might not be leaders or semi-leaders themselves, they might not have a great track record, but we were more interested in efficient men behind the scenes than in multiplying assets.
Will you make other moves to complete the squad?
Since some riders are leaving, some riders are coming, so it’s not over, but we will keep the same logic.
No comment