“We are gaining momentum.” Already at the forefront in the training of young riders, particularly since the establishment of “La Conti” in 2019 and then the junior program in 2021, the Groupama-FDJ Cycling Team intends to further support its efforts in this area. We take stock with Thierry Cornec, deputy general director of the structure.
Thierry, the training model will evolve further this winter. For what ?
Our sport, like all others, is getting younger, performance is getting younger, and we ourselves have signed long-term projects with riders, from the junior ranks to the WorldTour. When I arrived last June, I was convinced of the need for the team to further structure its training model. Our vision over 3, 5 or 10 years is that the team can feed the highest level of its structure, namely the WorldTour, therefore maintaining a real balance between riders from La Conti and riders potentially recruited elsewhere. This is what will ultimately allow the team to keep the meaning it wishes to give, its DNA and its values. This is something particularly important for us, for our partners Groupama and FDJ, and given the history of the team. The model has already been installed since 2019, with a unique Conti promotion to the WorldTour in the 2022 off-season (8 riders moved from Conti to the World Tour that year). Our ambition is to take it to a new level.
“One team”
How will this translate from a structural point of view?
One team. From the juniors, but even more so from La Conti to the WorldTeam, Groupama-FDJ is a single team. This was already true in practice, notably with these frequent elevators between Conti and WorldTeam. From now on, this will be reflected in the organization. Julien Pinot is responsible for the training department, and therefore for all the coaches, from juniors to the WorldTour. Philippe Mauduit is responsible for race management, therefore all sports directors, from juniors to the WorldTour. This is an important step. As for the riders, we will use the junior program and La Conti to integrate staff into the team, help it grow, and bring it to the WorldTour. Only one team, therefore.
How will this “one team” materialize?
For example, the calendar and the participation of the riders will be managed jointly between La Conti and the WorldTour, under the supervision of Philippe. This coordination existed before, it is now formalized in the organization. The aim is to ensure that the participation of La Conti riders in races with the WorldTeam is beneficial to their development as well as the team.
Are human resources also increased?
We are gaining strength structurally, but we are also significantly strengthening support and support in the junior and Conti sectors with the arrival of Yann Le Boudec since the beginning of September and Jimmy Turgis from the beginning of November. Yann Le Boudec arrives as head of detection and scouting. He will take the time necessary to understand the runner’s environment, know his expectations, and know if they match ours. Jimmy Turgis arrives as coordinator of the junior program, and will also coach for the juniors and La Conti. We will thus offer juniors a real training guide towards Conti. Jimmy currently coaches riders from another WorldTour team, he was a rider himself, and has an exact understanding of what this job entails. We reinforced the structure at the base, to ensure that it is even stronger on the upper levels.
“There is a real common responsibility”
The foundations are already very solid.
Certainly. When I was outside the team, in 2022, and I saw these eight riders arriving from La Conti at the WorldTour, I said to myself that the “training center” model specific to football or other sports was bearing fruit in a dazzling way. Since then, we have seen the emergence of many development teams in recent years. By joining the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, I had confirmation that the training center bases were really in place here. The ambition now is to significantly strengthen them in many aspects. Besançon is a physical as well as a human base. We want, with this base camp, to provide all the ingredients to support the ideal development of the young people who join us.
What is the role of the team in training?
The team’s responsibility does not end when the contract is signed. While talking with a few riders now in the WorldTour, I asked them the following questions: did you imagine doing this job when you were in high school? Do you like this job on a daily basis? Do you feel good inside and outside the team? Our responsibility is above all to put in place what is necessary to bring, in the best possible way, these riders to do their job. We have this responsibility to provide the necessary means and attention. Conversely, the runner also has a real responsibility to put in the right ingredients, namely his involvement, his commitment, his transparency about his expectations or his difficulties. There is a real common responsibility, and the strengthening of our training model, in a structural and human way, is part of this logic.
What are the pitfalls to avoid in this process?
At this age, the runner truly becomes an actor in his development. Without underestimating the investments made in juniors or cadets to reach a certain level, in the junior category and during the first two years as hopefuls, the riders are in particularly important phases of their development. Our role is to prevent them from spreading themselves too thin, whether in terms of training, support, or letting them think that it will be easy. Runner is a job. For some, it requires being a team member, for others it requires developing leadership qualities, which are often born at that moment, with satisfaction and failure. The desire to strengthen the structure also acts in this direction: detecting qualities very early, strengthening them very early, and not hesitating to bring a rider up to the WorldTour if his physical qualities allow him to do so. In the same way, we need to detect weaknesses very early, so that we can correct them and so that they do not bother us later.
“We will have succeeded in our mission when we find the same smiles, the same desire and the same energy as at Thibaud or Brieuc”
Is the subject of attractiveness central?
Attractiveness can consist of making something shine that behind the scenes is less accomplished. Our orientation is rather to give meaning to sporting projects and to provide runners with elements of understanding which will ensure that our approach in Besançon will appeal to them more than any other. That is to say a solid support approach, a desire to support them in their dual project for those concerned and a shared sporting vision. A rider who has the sole goal of being a WorldTour rider is not necessarily going to succeed. On the other hand, a rider who joins La Conti and who is clear about the fact that he is there to develop, and that this will happen through mutual investment, will have every chance of success. Recently, Brieuc and Thibaud again confirmed that this model works. Our desire is to strengthen this model to make it even more efficient and bring riders into the WorldTour in more or less short periods of time, but in the best possible way. This does not only mean performing well in terms of results, but also understanding that this is the job they will be doing for years, and which will require daily investments and responsibilities.
Can you tell us a word about recruiting hopefuls for next year?
We paid particular attention to different dimensions that I mentioned previously. Rémi Daumas, for example, is on a double project at INSA in Toulouse. Reef Roberts confirms our New Zealand sector, with the renewal of Lewis Bower next year. I am also impatient to see our juniors who are joining La Conti, with Baptiste Grégoire and Eliott Boulet, in addition to the integration of a rider like Maximilian Cushway, from an elite club. We will have succeeded in our mission when we find in them the same smiles, the same desire and the same energy that I particularly perceived in Thibaud or Brieuc during their recent interviews. I am also thinking of the staff who supported them for two years. It is particularly rewarding and even moving for them to see the runners develop and flourish at the highest level of our sport on a daily basis. Brieuc’s victory in the Tour de Lombardie Espoirs a few days ago is in this respect a very nice reward for Brieuc but also for the staff of “La Conti”.
