French hope

Let me begin with a simple question. Who was the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France? It shouldn’t be such a hard question to answer. But it’s usually met with a painful silence, followed by a bit of awkward mumbling and the odd out-loud thought, as people search the far reaches of their memories, counting back all the years on their fingers, as they try to grasp where all the time has gone. If someone responds with the correct answer immediately and without a hint of doubt in his voice, he is bound to be (1) older than fifty, (2) a nerd who spends more time than is healthy with his nose buried in cycling history books. For the rest of you, here’s a hint: it’s not Laurent Fignon, who was just eight seconds away from claiming the dubious honour in 1989. Think a couple of years further back. Bernard Hinault? That’s right. In 1985? Yes.

It seems ages ago, doesn’t it? Sure, there are plenty of countries today that have been waiting for what seems like forever for their next Tour winner — Belgium, for example, or the Netherlands, or the US, now that the list of winners has been cleaned up. The last American to win was Greg LeMond, and 1990 also seems like it was ages ago, and it is. But for the French to have had to wait for more than 30 years to see one of their countrymen win the most important race of the year — I say most important; whether it’s the best or most beautiful is a different matter entirely — is awful for them.

Up until about 1985, the winner of the Tour was just about always French, Belgian, or Italian — with the odd Dutchman, Spaniard, Luxemburger, or Swiss thrown in the mix. Now, that certainty that the winner of the Tour will come from one of the traditional cycling nations is long gone. The Belgians are a modest people at least. They can live with defeat. And they’re still successful in the spring classics. For the Italians, the blow’s been softened by the successes of Pantani and Nibali. And the Dutch have been able to rest their hopes on promising, young riders. Those hopes weren’t realistic of course, but that’s how the Dutch are. They’re always overestimating their own riders’ chances. But, for the French, to have to wait for more than thirty years for a winner is just unbearable.

I have to admit that I can understand their pain. Their country is cycling’s homeland after all. They invented the sport and organized the first races. The greatest race of the year goes past their gardens. Every once in a while, a Frenchman should win, they think. Not to worry — the longer you have to wait for something to happen, the sooner it’s likely to come about, which means it won’t be long before a Frenchman wins the Tour. I guarantee it. How can I be so sure? There are a few good reasons.

1. Young Talent
The Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour was no picnic for the French. It was held in Yorkshire, which meant that they couldn’t escape the fact that the Tour had taken on a British hue. That’s putting it lightly. And the French can’t sink much lower than that. With enthusiastic crowds lining the roads, spurred on by Bradley Wiggins’ and Christopher Froome’s recent wins, the Tour seemed as if it was going to be a British affair. Three weeks later, France’s sombre mood had changed to joy. It suddenly seemed as if a home win would soon be on the cards. Thibaut Pinot won the young rider’s classification, and Jean-Christophe Péraud joined him on the podium, having earned second place overall. Romain Bardet was a little further back, in sixth. Péraud isn’t much of a prospect, due to his age, but in the two younger riders, the French finally have compatriots who are worth putting money on. They’re a good bet too. They’re both willing to attack, and have the character and other qualities that are necessary to be great GC riders. There’s Warren Barguil too, who didn’t just win the Tour de l’Avenir, which is always a good indicator of talent, but won two stages of the Vuelta as well, setting him out as a star of the future, especially when you consider the fact that it was just his first year as a pro. Suddenly, France has a wealth of young talent. And each of them wants to win the Tour. It won’t happen immediately, not even in the coming two or three years — I’m not naive — but within five or six or seven years, it’s certainly possible. That’s not wishful thinking. Each of the riders I’ve mentioned will be about 30 then, the perfect age to claim his first win. It’s a matter of maturity, experience, and strength. Everyone knows that young riders rarely win the Tour. You have to have a few seasons under your belt. No one wakes up and says, “From now on, I’m going to be a super champion.” You need to undergo a long apprenticeship, filled with hard work and crashes. You need to learn to get back up again and again.

2. A New Mentality
The moment the French could once again entertain the hope of winning the Tour came in 2012, when Thibaut Pinot, the youngest rider in the race, finished 10th in the general classification, having already won a stage. He showed bravado and guts, and was soon heralded as his generation’s hero. The French papers wrote about a possible Tour champion. In recent years, there had been a few Frenchmen who had finished high on the GC — Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland come to mind — but they were never really taken seriously. No one ever thought they had much chance of winning the Tour. Rightly so, when you consider the facts. But this was a different story. The kid seemed as if he might just be the one. The problem for many French riders is that they ride for French teams. For them, there’s no opportunity to grow slowly, out of the limelight. If they show even a hint of talent, they are immediately held up as future winners and super champions. The French media have no sense of discretion. Plenty of riders succumb to the pressure. The list of names is long. From Jean-François Bernard — who at the end of the eighties was considered Hinault’s successor — up until Pierre Rolland, it goes on and on. I won’t annoy you with a long summary of all the riders who never made it. It’s not that they were bad riders — absolutely not — but their achievements were always overshadowed by the one great hope people had for them.

For a while, it looked as if Pinot would head in the same direction. After his successful debut in 2012, he failed to win one single race the following year. He even had to quit the Tour. The tragedy was clear to everyone. He was a racer who was afraid of the descents. That certainly wasn’t to his advantage, but, where an earlier French rider would have packed it in and whiled his days away on the French racing circuit, Pinot went on to finish seventh in the Vuelta that same year. He’s not a rider who’s quick to hang his head. He’s got the right mentality. Bardet is of the same calibre. Just like Pinot, he didn’t ride well in the first two weeks of the 2015 Tour. Actually, let’s be honest. He rode badly. And yet, both riders showed they had grit and determination and a willingness to attack, and both went on to earn beautiful stage wins. The last week of the Tour was theirs. That’s crucial. If you want to win the Tour, you have to perform in the final week. Pinot and Bardet proved they could.

3. An International Outlook
During the past twenty years, French cycling has receded. The French weren’t motivated to race outside their country. They didn’t believe they had a chance, due to the widespread use of dope. They called it ‘la course à deux vitesses’. They didn’t want to race against guys who might as well have been on motorbikes. Of course, the French weren’t completely clean either — far from it — although they thought so themselves. Enough. I don’t want to waste words on the subject. The fact is that they crawled back into their shell. They were satisfied to ride races that no one outside of France had even heard of. The result was disastrous. French riders could no longer compete with their foreign rivals. In all of the big races they did do, the French were blown away. If a Frenchman did earn the odd result, it was surprising. Let’s not be too cynical though. France’s inward-looking attitude has finally changed. Take Warren Barguil, who races for a German team. He’s determined. What he enjoys about racing for a team that isn’t French is that the squad features a mix of nationalities. He’s exposed to different ways of thinking. In a French team, everything is pretty much the same.

Here’s a bit of advice for Bardet and Pinot: move to another team — you’ll only be better for it. Julian Alaphilippe is one young rider who’s taken that advice to heart. At a very young age, he chose to join a Belgian team full of stars in order to gain experience and work with the best coaches. And, lo and behold, in the Ardennes classics, he put Valverde et al. into difficulty.

4. No Fear of Failure
The Tour is not the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta. It is a race that follows a very predictable pattern. You have to admit that the only real drama in the race usually revolves around which of the three (there are rarely more) top favourites has to quit, either from a crash or from some mysterious illness. The plot is always the same. First, there is a week full of crashes and breakaways that get caught five kilometres before the line, with at least one of the favourites having to leave the race with broken bones. Then, the second week begins, usually with a mountaintop finish. About three kilometres before the summit, the bonanza gets started, as one of the favourites implodes in spectacular fashion. There’s a time trial, and the general classification is decided, although everyone keeps trying to better his place till Paris. Of course, there are still a few skirmishes on the margins. The battle for fifth place becomes interesting. But racers who want to excel have to forget about such nonsense. They have to throw caution to the wind, go on the attack, and not always make the best judgements. The new generation of French racers has adopted this style. What’s there to worry about? It’s the only way to progress. If you once push an opponent into a ravine, sure it’s not nice, but at least it shows that you have the will to win and are prepared to put everything on the line to earn victory. It’s going to happen. These French kids have got what it takes. To win, you can’t be afraid to lose.

5. Unbridled Chauvinism
There’s another reason why a Frenchman might soon win the Tour. Race organizers all over the world have never been ashamed to tailor their races to the strengths of their compatriots. If there are no good climbers amongst the race organizer’s countrymen, there won’t be many mountain stages. Today, the French jeunes premiers aren’t the greatest time triallists. And, look, in the past few years, the number of time-trial kilometres in the Tour has fallen precipitously. The young Frenchmen aren’t the best descenders either. The solution? More mountaintop finishes. That way, the chance that the French will lose time in the finale of a climbing stage is limited.

Sure, people might not find this fair, but it’s always gone on this way, and not just in the Tour. Remember when Francesco Moser and Beppe Saronni were the top favourites in the Giro d’Italia. The organizers scrapped most of the difficult climbs from the race, because the two Italians couldn’t climb with the best. So, I’m prepared to predict that within a few years, when the new generation of French racers has matured, the organizers will come up with a course that is perfectly suited to them. The international press will complain, but who cares? The French will do anything to help a Frenchman win the Tour. It will happen. And when it does, the colours of France won’t be rouge, blanc, et bleu. They’ll be jaune, vert, et blanc, because the French will win all the jerseys. Believe me, the question is, who? Will it be Bardet? Pinot? Vichot? Barguil? Alaphilippe? Or will it be Pierre Latour? With a name like that, he’s bound to be a winner. I’ll say it out loud. Follow the boy. Write his name down in your notebook. Everyone will be impressed by how astute you are. You’re very welcome.

If you liked this story consider purchasing Soigneur Cycling Journal 15 where it was first printed.