What can Arnaud Démare hope for from the 2025 vintage? Is he able to get back to his best level? Will he cross the symbolic milestone of 100 career victories, he who currently has 97? “I always have this goal in mind, like that of winning a stage of the Tour again and winning more regularly, quite simply”. This season, Picard, a figure of French cycling of the last decade, will once again be one of the great attractions of the peloton, a real question and curiosity, too. While he will begin his season in Spain with a round of the Majorca Challenge, before heading to Gard lands on the Etoile de Bessèges, the leader of Team Arkéa-B&B Hôtels hopes to forget as quickly as possible a particularly difficult year 2024 .
“I DID NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS”
Sportingly, firstly, since he struggled to find the right carburetion and automation with his new train, to the point of fearing ending the season empty-handed for the first time in his career. “Florian Sénéchal injured his collarbone, Amaury Capiot also fell, then Dan McNay was hit in the ribs… On Paris-Nice, two train riders were absent. Miles Scotson needed time to settle into his new team. It was a lot, we weren't 100%. For my part, I had difficulty finding the right slider between freshness and strength, I was a little notch below what I am capable of doing. I did not meet the team's expectations”. Mentally too, and above all, since his partner, Morgane, was hospitalized for almost three months due to severe depression. A particularly painful ordeal that they decided to recount, jointly, in the second volume of “A year in my wheel”book available from Talent Sport editions.
“It’s a topical subject, the mental health of a high-level athlete”. Not really eager to complain or find any excuses for his disappointing 2024 season – in comparison with his standards -, Arnaud Démare and his partner simply wanted to indulge, without taboos. “My wife had the strength to agree to confide. The goal of this book was to help people on a daily basis”. Did he fear reactions from the cycling community? “The book aims to reach people who already, initially, have a certain goodwill towards me since they are taking the step of buying a book. It's not the same as coming across an article on the internet or even reading the newspaper. When you buy a book, you know what you're going to get. So no, I wasn't afraid. I simply wanted to show the difficulty of balancing the life of a high-level athlete and the challenges of everyday life. Everything is linked, there is necessarily an impact on sporting practice”. From now on, “the storm has passed” and the former winner of Milan-San Remo (2016) intends to be an essential element of the Breton WorldTeam for what will be his fourteenth season among the pros.
“DO NOT REPRODUCE THE SAME MISTAKES AND PLAY ON FRESHNESS”
For this new annual exercise, he is now trained by Frédéric Ostian, his fourth coach in a year and a half. “It’s a change, you have to get used to it again even if when you do this job, you have an enormous capacity to adapt.” Among the main changes he has implemented since the start of winter preparation, that of “not to ride at all costs while being ill, for example. Before, I was able to squeeze in three hours of training, but it's counterproductive. If I have to blow, I blow”. More generally, he set a motto: “don’t repeat the same mistakes” than in the recent past, and show themselves capable of good “play on freshness” throughout the season.
The expectations? Arnaud Démare doesn't make a big deal out of it. “There were already some last year”. And previous seasons too. The pressure? “I still put a lot of effort into it. I have a hard time taking it off. This requirement is in me”. But he intends to rely, more than ever, on his mental strength, his patience and his self-sacrifice. “I know all this and I know how to do”. What if victory doesn't come at the start of the season? “I don't know how long I'm going to last. Maybe one day I'll be fed up but for now, that's not the case”.
“I STILL HAVE THE PHYSICS TO BE ABLE TO EXPRESS MYSELF”
Happy to have “back on track” et “Impatient” to battle it out, Arnaud Démare is convinced he can still achieve great things. And don't talk to him about age! “I'm only 33, I want to trust myself. André Greipel won four stages on the Tour at 34, Philippe Gilbert won Paris-Roubaix at 36 and Mark Cavendish won on the Tour at 39. A sprint can be random. You have to find the right mood, repeat them to one day have the opening. I still have the physique to be able to express myself”. 3rd in Villeneuve-sur-Lot before being downgraded for a sprint deemed irregular during the last Tour de France, he felt that day that he still had victory in his legs for the biggest race in the World. “I know that on this stage, I could win”.
Before the big objective of the Tour, Arnaud Démare will try to win as soon as possible. On the side of Majorca or in Bessèges, perhaps, where he will have “a big team” to support him. Then, if it is not already done, in Almeria, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Paris-Nice. “Depending on my form, I will then have a great program on the Classics”. After the running-in problems last year, accentuated by the successive injuries of its pilot fish, the Picard hopes to have a well-oiled train this time. “There will always be Florian Sénéchal, but also Miles Scotson who will often be with me even if for the moment he is in Australia”. Amaury Capiot is also cited by the leader, as is track specialist Donavan Grondin. “He lacks consistency but he has the qualities to”assures Arnaud Démare about the Réunionnais. If everyone expresses themselves 100%, he is convinced of it, “there is a way to do beautiful things”. Including beating the fastest men on the planet. “Confidence plays a huge role. There just needs to be good emulation within the team and everything is possible”.
Photo: Team Arkéa-B&B Hotels
