Let’s say it right away: that of Marc Madiot to the position of general manager of Groupama FDJ is not a farewell like the others. Because he created that team, shaped it from nothing, made it grow until it became a pillar of the WorldTour, a cradle of French cycling talent. Madiot brought it to life in 1997, three years after ending his successful professional careerbut above all from those two victories at Paris-Roubaix which made him one of the last icons of transalpine cycling.
Being a manager has always been a vocation
«If I look back – he said in the days of announcing his farewell – I realize that mine was not a career choice, but simply keeping faith with a vocation, exactly like racing a bike. Being a manager was almost a duty, I felt it in my DNA like being a runner was. But I had to do it with my own project. In my time, being a runner was a lifestyle, today it is a profession and I understood very early that I would have to know how to blend art and professionalism to create something lasting.”
Madiot has experienced many key moments during his career as a manager and they are all etched in his memory. Starting with the victory of Frederic Guesdon at Roubaix 1997, a real surprise but for him, who had twice tamed the Hell of the North on his bike, it was almost a sign that the path taken was the right one.
The disappointment of the 2005 Tour
Other successes came, even by non-French riders (including those of the late Rebellin) then the first national title with Vogondy (he will win another 8), but as often happens the greatest resonance comes from defeats, from moments of bad luck. Like the one in 2005. Tour stage, Christophe Mengin he is on the run and he urges him from the flagship behind him: «Go Totof, my boy. It’s your day, it’s today! Think of your wife, your daughters, don’t give up, don’t turn away. It’s time!”. Then the last bend, the fall, his curses, that “We are cursed” repeated three times and the bitter tears. Among the many poured out in these almost thirty years, sometimes of joy, as in this case, of disappointment.
A story also made up of prominent riders who passed through his hands, practically the best of French cycling in the last twenty years: From Start a Pinota Gaudu. With some establishing a relationship almost between father and son, with others also experiencing difficult moments, facing crises such as the one between Démare and Gaudu themselves which led to a separation at home and the former’s early farewell. It was probably already in those circumstances that Madiot saw how the toy was getting a little out of handas the world of cycling he was used to was changing, even too quickly.
Cycling is less and less at its pace
«Until recently – the manager told L’Equipe – when I met a young runner, I saw the pride in his eyes because I talked to him and encouraged him to join us. Not long ago, I found myself faced with guys telling me, “Talk to my agent, sir.” It’s the evolution of cycling, but are we sure it’s right to ride it with our eyes closed? I talk to the agents, but the riders must understand that life is theirs, they are the ones who have to decide, not the agents.
«When I hired Philippe GilbertI took the car and went to talk to his parents in Belgium, it was 2002, I returned home that the boy had signed. The next day I met the Australian Bradley McGee at the Nations Open in Bercy and six months later I picked him up at 6am at the airport. I used to build teams like this, today everything is different.”
Many battles for the future of the movement
In his existential evolution, Madiot found himself faced with two paths: one was the cycling he had known, faced as a runner, made up of human values. The other is that of current cycling, all numbers and performance. «The future is a continuous integration of technologies, but we must not lose sight of where we come from».
Often the transalpine manager, even in his role as president of the French Cycling League, has done his utmost to maintain a course in keeping with tradition, fighting to have adequate means to fight technological doping. Fighting so that the activity could resume in the difficult year of Covid. Asking a salary cap to better balance the WorldTour. Warning against excessive dependence on mechanical means. Identifying elements that increase the dangers of the profession in earphones, power sensors, GPS.
He will remain as president
Maybe it’s not his cycling anymore. Madiot is not leaving completely, he remains as president to follow the structure as a whole and look for new sources of income, accepting the words of a few weeks ago by Cavendish which warned against excessive dependence on team sponsors. «My ambition is for the team to survive me, we have to look to the future and I’m not». Yet in certain aspects his concepts remain as relevant as ever.
