The Tour also feeds on that. From the fervor of its public for runners in general, and that of French supporters for French cyclists in particular. The 2024 edition will not escape the rule but there is something new. The quest for a new darling made in France will begin on Saturday in Florence. It will not be Thibaut Pinot, who retired after a final season in the peloton which confirmed his incredible popularity rating. Nor Julian Alaphilippe, not selected by the Soudal Quick-Step and turned towards another objective, the Olympic Games.
“These are two riders who marked the history of the Tour, there was a lot of excitement around themsummarizes David Moncoutié, double stage winner in the event (2004 and 2005) and consultant for Eurosport. But we always have revelations, riders who can become the “darling” of a Tour.” Difficult to expect a rival to Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard in the race for the yellow jersey. “It’s true that when we look at the start of the season for French riders overall, I think they will be there more in the role of stage chasers.“, says Moncoutié. There are candidates.
Romain Bardet
He is also one of the French riders who have left their mark on the Tour in recent years. Three-time stage winner, third in the general classification in 2017, polka dot jersey in 2019, the DSM-firmenich PostNL rider is taking part in the Grande Boucle for the last time before retiring in June 2025. Although he hasn’t given up this season, he has achieved some great feats, notably his second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and another second place in Bocca della Selva on the Giro. So, why not make a last stand on the Tour at 33?
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“The Tour de France, he will take it to play the stages. We know that he is a very good rider, and he is still capable of doing very good things in the mountains in a stage chaser role. He can going for a great victory in the mountains is over, the breakaways that go to the end are on average and in high mountains.
Bardet on Pinot’s spectacular farewell: “It’s a magnificent tribute”
David Gaudu
He knows how to do well on the Tour. David Gaudu had proven it by taking fourth place in the general classification in 2022. The leader of Groupama FDJ had been a little more discreet in 2023 (9th) and is coming out of a first part of the season without relief despite a victory on the Tour du Jura. He finished 14th in the Tour de Romandie and 15th in the Critérium du Dauphiné. His state of form remains an unknown and the addition of Lenny Martinez to Marc Madiot’s team on this Tour leaves doubt about Gaudu’s ambitions overall.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“So far, the year has not gone as he wanted but he has already finished 4th in a Tour so from there, we are still waiting for him for the general classification. We can always wait for a good surprise. The year he finished fourth in the Tour, he didn’t have a great Dauphiné. I think he must be hoping deep down but he has no certainty.”
Lenny Martinez
It’s the surprise of the boss. Initially announced absent from the Tour de France and expected on the Vuelta, the prodigy of French cycling has finally been integrated into the Groupama-FDJ team for the Grande Boucle. Despite a drop in form on the Tour de Suisse, he is certainly the most in-form French rider since the start of the season with five victories (Classic Var, Trofeo Laigueglia, Classic Grand Besançon Doubs, Tour du Doubs, Mercan’Tour) and notable results on World Tour events (8th in the Strade Bianche, 7th in the Tour of Catalonia, 8th in the Tour de Romandie). He is young and talented. Everything to please the public.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“Lenny Martinez was not planned for a long time on the Tour since he had to do the Vuelta. He will therefore be there above all to play for a stage victory in the mountains without ambition for the general classification. He is one of the very good climbers in the peloton, he demonstrated it this year and it is therefore a real asset for Groupama-FDJ to chase a stage in the mountains, especially since there is a lot of uncertainty about Gaudu’s ability to play a good overall ranking.”
Martinez is untenable: his second victory in three days on video
Guillaume Martin
He has references on grand tours after an 8th place in the Tour de France in 2021 and a 9th in the Vuelta the same year. Winner of the ranking of the best climbers on the Vuelta in 2020, still in the Top 10 on the Grande Boucle last year (10th), the Cofidis climber has undeniable skills in the mountains. He is having a fairly anonymous year in 2024 so far and has not really shone at the Critérium du Dauphiné (19th in the general classification). But he is the type of rider that the Tour and its public can galvanize.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“Guillaume Martin, we know that he likes to play for the general classification, but after a while he may have to change his mind. What I expect from him and from the French riders is is that they show themselves at the front, that they are offensive because we know that faced with the big foreign armadas, it is complicated to fight in the general classification.”
Kevin Vauquelin
He is one of the greatest hopes of French cycling, and one of the most convincing French riders of the first half of the World Tour season (10th in Tirreno-Adriatico, 8th in the Tour du Pays Basque, 2nd in the Walloon arrow). At 23, the Arkéa-B&B Hôtels rider is only competing in his second grand tour after the Vuelta last year, and his first Tour de France. He remains with a big frustration, that of having lost the title of French time trial champion to Bruno Armirail by just three seconds. But his race showed that he was in good shape.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“We know that he is a talent, a complete runner, good at time trials, who goes well on the mountain, quite a puncher too… And a young runner, so normally there will be progression. He walks quite well, he will approach this Tour with a lot of confidence, but we do not yet know if he is a three-week rider with a level as high as the Tour.”
Coronation of Armirail, sobs of Vauquelin: the breathtaking ending
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
What if it wasn’t a rider who came to excite the French on this Tour, but a team? The Décathlon-AG2R La Mondiale has the job profile. Vincent Lavenu’s team is 3rd in the number of victories in 2024 (26) and wants to be very ambitious. She is aiming for a Top 5 in the general classification with the Austrian Felix Gall (8th last year) and at least one stage victory. And she will have two blue-white-red jerseys to make the crowds dream, on the time trial with Bruno Armirail and on the straight stages with Paul Lapeira.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“They have interesting cards like Paul Lapeira or Dorian Godon. It is the French team which marked the start of the season, with a very big collective. Of course, we have to shine on the Tour, it is important for all the teams and in particular for this one Now, if they mess up, we will still say that they have had a successful start to the season compared to certain teams who have not done too well and who can save a season in one. Tour de France.”
Star at home: Lapeira’s sprint for the tricolor jersey
And also…
There are those we perhaps expect a little less and that can work in their favor. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) remains on a stage victory in the Tour de Suisse and will have his card to play in the sprints. Valentin Madouas and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) can shine on a breakaway, like Warren Barguil (DSM-Firmenich PostNL). And TotalEnergies, invited, will be keen to show off with Mathieu Burgaudeau and Anthony Turgis in particular. Jean-René Bernaudeau’s team knows how to write the beautiful French stories of the Tour. Twenty years after Thomas Voeckler’s epic in yellow, she will try to confirm it.
- David Moncoutié’s opinion
“I hope that we will have a good runner, a revelation, a runner who will look for one in one day. If I see one in particular? Exactly, I would like to be surprised. A runner that we don’t Don’t wait and it’s his day The year I won a stage of the Tour, they were waiting for me a bit because it was in my department… There you go, we sometimes had great stories even if on the Tour, They’re not runners who come out of nowhere, but we sometimes have great revelations.”
