Valentin Madouas achieved a real tour de force by winning his very first title of champion of France, this Sunday, June 25. In the northern heat, around Cassel, the 26-year-old cyclist was able to grab the tricolor jersey. Now, a new goal stands before him: to shine in the Tour de France 2023, which will take place from July 1 to 23.
“The course was typical for me and I really want to do a big, big, Tour de France,” said the 26-year-old Breton to explain his total determination in Flanders, where only 23 brave men crossed the line – 106 abandonments in total, including the big favorite Julian Alaphilippe.
Second in the Strade Bianche at the start of the year, Madouas took the lead in the championship alone about twenty kilometers from the finish, the ultimate coup by his Groupama-FDJ team on a grueling and overheated course, the toughest “ever known” by Rudy Molard in 12 disputed. Embraced by his father Laurent, himself a former cyclist (eight participations in the Tour de France) on the main square of the northern village, the Finistérien signs there the sixth success of his career, the most significant.
“This winter, he told me: ‘This year, it’s a circuit for me, I have to be French champion,'” said Laurent Madouas, 56. “We took the two grannies, the grandpa, we were like, ‘You never know.’ They are over 80 years old, living this as a family is something unforgettable,” he added. Thanks to Rudy Molard, second, Groupama-FDJ managed a double, while Julien Bernard – also the son of a former rider, Jean-François Bernard (3rd in the 1987 Tour) – completed the podium.
Thibaut Pinot, for his final French championship, finished seventh. This victory is a consecration for the “Breton Tractor” (his nickname), capable last year of a third place in the Tour of Flanders as well as a Top 10 in the final classification of the Grande Boucle. “Valentin is tenacious, he never gives up, he has an endurance like no other,” said Rudy Molard. On Sunday, the 4,200 meters of elevation gain promised a “construction site” in the unanimous opinion of the runners, and the Groupama-FDJ collective attacked the course with a jackhammer.
More than 190 km from the finish (out of 224), a royal group formed with Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu, joined a few terminals further by Valentin Madouas, who went against. A breakaway where Marc Madiot’s men were overrepresented (8 out of 22 runners). The new wearer of the tricolor jersey never left the outposts afterwards, according to the various junctions, groups coming together and coming apart. “Being one step ahead allowed me to smooth out all the climbs,” he explained.
Slowly reduced by the relief, the cobblestones and the blazing sun, the peloton ended up boiling, starting with Julian Alaphilippe. The double world champion finally dropped 96 kilometers from the goal, before giving up, suffering “temperatures” (31 degrees), according to his sports director Geert van Bondt.
“With this heat, there can be failures as much as with rain or cold,” Benoît Cosnefroy warned on Friday. The AG2R-Citroën rider himself suffered a total extinction at the moment of the decisive race movement, on an acceleration of David Gaudu in the brutal slope of the Porte d’Aire (1 km at almost 8%). Gaudu as well as Rudy Molard, who managed the junction, offered two final stints to the future winner.
A way also for Gaudu to return the favor to the one who had towed him in the stages of Peyragudes and Hautacam last summer to allow him to climb to fourth place in the Tour. Only final fright for Madouas, a mechanical incident a dozen kilometers from the goal. But nothing, neither the heat nor the two beautiful bumps of the 13 km course (for 224 km in total) could stop the “Breton Tractor” on Sunday.
