Best Frenchman in the last Tour de France, Guillaume Martin has just learned that he was world number one in a very particular ranking. In 2024, no one has covered more kilometers in a race than the Norman Cofidis runner.
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Guillaume Martin will not mark his 2024 season with a blank stone. For the last of his five years in the Cofidis jersey, the Norman rider did not make any “great bursts of brilliance“, speaking of “one of the most anonymous seasons” of his career.
However, if you look closely at the figures, numerous honorary distinctions can be credited to Ornais. The media Total Vélo, for example, has just noted that Guillaume Martin is number 1 in the world in the ranking of runners who have accumulated the most kilometers in races over the past year.
In 2024, over a total of 88 days of racing, the climber has covered 14,378 km, much more than his closest pursuers in the ranking: his teammate Thomas Champion (13,934) and the Dutchman from Red Bull Hansgrohe Danny Van Poppel (13 851).
It’s not a real victory, it’s an anecdote, but it reflects the runner that I am.
“I knew that I was among the runners with the most days of racing, but not that I had accumulated the most kilometers, comments Guillaume Martin. That, plus the fact of having managed to run for four years without giving up (between 2017 and 2021), this confirms my qualities of endurance, resistance, my profile as a fighter who never gives up, who does not resolve to give up”.
In addition to this virtual trophy full of merit, several results of Guillaume Martin’s season should be highlighted: his two 3rd places obtained in the spring on the Tour of Catalonia, then on the Tour of Jura, his numerous breakaways and his 13th place in the final of a Tour de France which he completed in the position of best Frenchman.
Will he run as much next year? Not sure. “I really like running, but the years where I had the most UCI points were the years when I ran the least. I’m likely to do fewer days of running next year“. Because for Guillaume Martin, life will change in 2025, since he leaves Cofidis for FDJ-Groupama.
A change of jersey which will undoubtedly be accompanied by adjustments to the calendar. What is certain is that he dreams of participating in the next Tour de France, which will pass through Normandy, and even through his home for the first time since he took part in the Grande Boucle.
While waiting to get back on the road, the cyclist rests. He takes the opportunity to promote his latest book “People Who Dream”published last week, and gives a welcome helping hand to the family estate of Gîtes de la Boderie in Suisse Normande.
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