the essential
Historic manager of French Cycling, the boss of the Groupama FDJ team, 65 years old, takes his look at the evolution of a discipline whose development he has been following for many years.
“From the 504 to the private jet”. Here is the title of the editorial that Marc Madiot has chosen for his next post in Vélo Star, his magazine dedicated to cycling. The former rider and historic manager of French cycling is now 65 years old. He has been immersed in this environment for almost 50 years, observing its developments, not without a critical sense.
“In the old days, riders traveled in the white 504 […] with the bikes on the trunk, we traveled around thirty kilometers to go from one criterium to another”, he rewinds in an interview with The Team. “There, this is not at all a criticism, I see Van der Poel who arrives at the cross country in Belgium with his Lamborghini, who goes to Besançon with a private jet, who takes 50,000 euros per race (a sum advanced by the Italian press, not confirmed by the rider, Editor's note). Good for him, but I tell myself that the bike is changing dimension and era.”
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Marc Madiot believes that today, certain sponsors or states which finance teams “want to generate profits like in football”. For cycling, “it will be the next match”, according to Madiot. “TV rights, transfers, new markets… If we look at other major sports, we see increasing globalization, which, today, is not the case for cycling. All these great financial powers arriving in This environment will want, I suppose, to reproduce the same movements to achieve identical results.”
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And Marc Madiot concludes: “These people arrive with other experiences, in other environments, sporting or economic, and I fear for the ethical balance of cycling, in all areas.” Including in the area of doping, on which “excessive professionalization” could have consequences, “because, in this system, it will become unacceptable to lose.”
France
Cycling
