Beer lover, Marc Madiot is not likely to share one anytime soon with Arnaud Démare. The tensions between the sporting director of the Groupama FDJ team and the sprinter go back many months now, on the eve of the Tour de France to be exact.
The 32-year-old cyclist, who hoped to compete in the 2023 Tour de France with the French team, had learned a month before that he would not be at the start of the Grande Boucle, and that his contract would not be renewed. A decision signed by Marc Madiot, which marked the end of a twelve-year long collaboration. The sports director then indicated that he had not made this choice “with joy of heart”, claiming to have “thought about the team and the jersey above all else”.
And several months later, the three-time French champion still has not digested it, as he explained in a documentary published on FranceTV Sport: “The anger is still present, the incomprehension as well. […] I felt betrayed, and not recognized for everything I was able to do.”
At the end of the tour, in July, Marc Madiot seemed to want to reestablish a relationship of trust with his former protégé, and addressed him via media: “I believe that time will do its work,” he said. he declared, “and that we will find a good and beautiful relationship as we have had for many years”.
But Arnaud Démare has not yet turned the page, and has even questioned the latter’s sincerity: “politically, for him it’s interesting to say that.” Before concluding, coldly: “now, I have nothing to say to Marc”.
This season, the rider who won two stages of the Tour de France embarked on a new challenge by joining the ArkeaB team.