{"id":225561,"date":"2025-10-19T17:19:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T17:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225561\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T17:19:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T17:19:17","slug":"marc-madiot-raves-about-french-wonderkid-paul-seixas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225561\/","title":{"rendered":"Marc Madiot raves about French wonderkid Paul Seixas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phenomenon of youth is part of modern cycling,\u201d Madiot continued. \u201cRiders are better prepared, better trained, better educated. They\u2019re ready much earlier than before. It\u2019s true in cycling, and in other sports too \u2014 look at football. The new generations are more advanced physically and mentally because they\u2019re better managed and better supported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hope and concern for French cycling<\/p>\n

While Madiot\u2019s admiration for Seixas is clear, his tone shifts when the discussion broadens to the state of the French cycling ecosystem. The collapse of Ark\u00e9a – B&B Hotels, confirmed this week after Emmanuel Hubert failed to secure a new sponsor, has clearly hit a nerve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad for everyone \u2014 for the riders, the staff, for Manu himself,\u201d Madiot said. \u201cWe know it\u2019s a delicate economic period in France, and cycling is changing fast. Traditional cycling nations like France and Belgium are struggling to keep pace with the global economic expansion. I just hope the UCI will put safeguards in place to allow everyone to survive, because otherwise we\u2019re heading for real difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a striking warning from a man who\u2019s spent decades navigating the sport\u2019s shifting financial tides. Madiot recalls an earlier era of French unity \u2014 when teams, riders and organisers maintained what he calls a \u201ccohesion\u201d that sustained the sport for forty years. \u201cWe had good races, strong teams, and harmony between everyone involved. That\u2019s what got us through difficult times in the past. I just hope we can continue to evolve under good conditions \u2014 and above all, that we can try to preserve French cycling while it\u2019s still possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"madiot\"\/<\/p>\n

Marc Madiot has seen it all in terms of French cycling<\/p>\n

\u201cUAE dominating everything? It\u2019s almost logical.\u201dBeyond France\u2019s internal challenges, Madiot also acknowledges a broader truth about the balance of power at the top of world cycling. UAE Team Emirates – XRG<\/a>\u2019s dominance \u2014 closing in on 100 wins this season \u2014 has raised questions about competitive imbalance. For Madiot, though, such supremacy is simply the natural order of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest teams have always won the most races,\u201d he said. \u201cThose with the biggest budgets are best placed to win more often. UAE dominating the season is almost logical \u2014 even normal \u2014 when you look at their depth. Out of 30 riders, 26 or 27 could be leaders anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pragmatic, unsentimental take \u2014 characteristic of a manager who\u2019s lived through many eras of boom and bust. For all the talk of fan fatigue and predictable racing, Madiot remains convinced that enthusiasm will reset once the new season begins. \u201cFans might feel a bit of weariness, yes, but everything resets when we start again. By January, with Australia and the Tour Down Under, there\u2019ll be excitement and motivation again \u2014 from both teams and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

A model built on youth<\/p>\n

Despite his concern for the wider landscape, Madiot continues to build for the long term through Groupama\u2013FDJ\u2019s renowned development system \u2014 a structure once considered overly forward-thinking, now proven essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople criticised us for focusing on young riders thirty years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe we were too far ahead at the time \u2014 but it\u2019s always been our model. The youth structure is the foundation of the team. Every few years, new talents arrive at the top level, and I hope they\u2019ll keep progressing next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to name the next big name to emerge from the Groupama\u2013FDJ academy, Madiot refused to single anyone out \u2014 a hint that the system, rather than any individual, is what matters most. \u201cWe\u2019ll see with time,\u201d he smiled. \u201cHopefully there\u2019ll be several. We don\u2019t want just one \u2014 we want a strong, ambitious young core.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"groupamafdj\"\/<\/p>\n

Groupama – FDJ pose for a team photo<\/p>\n

From Hinault to Seixas<\/p>\n

For all the uncertainties surrounding sponsorships, budgets and the UCI\u2019s points system, Madiot still finds solace in the sight of young French talent breaking through. His comparison between Paul Seixas and Bernard Hinault may have raised eyebrows, but it captures something essential: belief that French cycling, for all its fragility, still produces riders capable of greatness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Bernard Hinault were 19 today, he\u2019d have the same abilities as Paul Seixas,\u201d Madiot repeated. \u201cThat tells you the level.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a sport searching for its next true French superstar, few endorsements could carry more weight.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe phenomenon of youth is part of modern cycling,\u201d Madiot continued. \u201cRiders are better prepared, better trained,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-225561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}