Teams & Riders Guillaume is The New(est) Martin

[Breezy1985]

Bardet may never be as close to yellow again as he is tonight. If his plan is for a high finish in Paris, the attack made little sense, but just to get a day in yellow would be huge for Ag2R, so it was worthwhile having a go and see if the others react.

Who cares if his attack made sense at least himself and Martin tried. It ould be another borefest if we waited all day for Ineos and JV

 

[Ripper]

So... Pinot is obviously out of the GC. Bardet is reportedly - as stated in his own thread - injured, and wasn't planning on riding for GC anyway.
Are we gonna have a situation where Guillaume Martin might be France's best hope for a good placement in the GC?

That seems a pretty likely bet

 

[BlueRoads]

So... I did a bit of research about Guillaume Martin, and this is what I found:

GM was born in Paris, on a day in June, when the sun shone bright and his parents had just prepared a typical French afternoon tea, with café au lait, some madeleines and fresh pieces of apricot and melon from Cavaillon, a city where his aunt Daphne lived. That same aunt was there on the day that he was born, helping his mother to give birth, because Guillaume was so persistent with getting the birth done, that they had no time to drive to the hospital.
G was born in a small guest room, not used for some time, where his mother had parked her road bike, the one she did not use in the days prior to the birth. So Guillaume was born next to this bike and the first thing he saw was this bike. It's said the first thing he uttered, looking at his father with his big brown baby eyes, was "e-o", which, as everyone knows, is baby-French for vélo, but also quite astonishing for a new-born, who often only know words like "whaaaaaa".
This intellectual superiority as well as an interest in sports continued to show. He did his bac at the Lycée St Thomas d'Aquin de Flers and later took up his studies of philosophy at the university of Nanterre, Paris. He finished those in 2015. He wrote a play, Platon vs. Platoche, and a book Socrate à vélo, which translates to "How I am going to win the Tour". The book became a best-seller on amazon after Thibaut Pinot mentioned it in an interview, saying he would never read this book, not because he thought it would be bad, but because he was a rider who relied on feelings, not on books. Warren Barguil and Julian Alaphilippe supported Pinot's view publicly and thereby marketed the book further.
There are many stories about GM to be told, and I don't want to write a novel here, but one more thing I found interesting is that he owns an albino dwarf rabbit called Spinoza. This rabbit was given to him by his aunt Daphne when he was six month old. So that rabbit must be at least 26 now! That's quite an age for a rabbit. I found a quote of Guillaume saying he talks about racing and philosophy quite a lot with Spinoza, and this often helps him to clear his thoughts. Spinoza apparently had something to do with the switch to Codifis as well, but I don't know which role exactly he played in that as Guillaume is coy in that regard.

 

[gregrowlerson]

So... I did a bit of research about Guillaume Martin, and this is what I found:

GM was born in Paris, on a day in June, when the sun shone bright and his parents had just prepared a typical French afternoon tea, with café au lait, some madeleines and fresh pieces of apricot and melon from Cavaillon, a city where his aunt Daphne lived. That same aunt was there on the day that he was born, helping his mother to give birth, because Guillaume was so persistent with getting the birth done, that they had no time to drive to the hospital.
G was born in a small guest room, not used for some time, where his mother had parked her road bike, the one she did not use in the days prior to the birth. So Guillaume was born next to this bike and the first thing he saw was this bike. It's said the first thing he uttered, looking at his father with his big brown baby eyes, was "e-o", which, as everyone knows, is baby-French for vélo, but also quite astonishing for a new-born, who often only know words like "whaaaaaa".
This intellectual superiority as well as an interest in sports continued to show. He did his bac at the Lycée St Thomas d'Aquin de Flers and later took up his studies of philosophy at the university of Nanterre, Paris. He finished those in 2015. He wrote a play, Platon vs. Platoche, and a book Socrate à vélo, which translates to "How I am going to win the Tour". The book became a best-seller on amazon after Thibaut Pinot mentioned it in an interview, saying he would never read this book, not because he thought it would be bad, but because he was a rider who relied on feelings, not on books. Warren Barguil and Julian Alaphilippe supported Pinot's view publicly and thereby marketed the book further.
There are many stories about GM to be told, and I don't want to write a novel here, but one more thing I found interesting is that he owns an albino dwarf rabbit called Spinoza. This rabbit was given to him by his aunt Daphne when he was six month old. So that rabbit must be at least 26 now! That's quite an age for a rabbit. I found a quote of Guillaume saying he talks about racing and philosophy quite a lot with Spinoza, and this often helps him to clear his thoughts. Spinoza apparently had something to do with the switch to Codifis as well, but I don't know which role exactly he played in that as Guillaume is coy in that regard.

Interesting reading.

I haven't read the book, but my guess is that his solution to how he was going to win the Tour was:

"First, I need a rabbit."

Well, in long distance running, a rabbit is a little bit like a domestique

 

[Breezy1985]

Interesting reading.

I haven't read the book, but my guess is that his solution to how he was going to win the Tour was:

"First, I need a rabbit."

Well, in long distance running, a rabbit is a little bit like a domestique

" My story begins on a hot summers day. With a rabbit"
A good way to start the sequel to Socrates when he wins the tour

 

[BlueRoads]

procycling has an entirely different approach. They don't mention Daphne and the rabbit, but apparently his father taught martial arts and his mother drama: https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/guillaume-martin-think-big/

 

[bob.a.feet]

Solid today. He maybe felt it a bit after going hard yesterday and maybe he just doesn't love the super steep stuff. Only 11 seconds lost today. We still believe.

Also, I love seeing him climb in the drops.

Guillaume for yellow!

 

[BlueRoads]

More about Guillaume Martin: I looked up his time trial results and either he has never really tried or he's pretty terrible at it. (He's also not the best descender.) Maybe something to work on in the future? I could imagine the current and earlier team set-up has not brought out his best in that regard, yet.

 

[bob.a.feet]

More about Guillaume Martin: I looked up his time trial results and either he has never really tried or he's pretty terrible at it. (He's also not the best descender.) Maybe something to work on in the future? I could imagine the current and earlier team set-up has not brought out his best in that regard, yet.

I might be wrong but I remember him attacking on the descent in the Dauphine.

But yes he is not the best time trialist.
San Juan he finished 2:28 down on Evenepoel on a 15km course (to be fair, it's Evenepoel).
Paris Nice he finished 1:06 down on Asgreen on a 15km course, worse than Quintana.

He lost 3 minutes to Alaphilippe on the Tour last year.

Though I think his post-lockdown form is levels above anything we've ever seen from him before. Plus, even if he does lose 3 minutes in the TT, it won't matter because he'll put 4 minutes into everyone in the Alps.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Okay not a good day today. He had been having back pain after his crash but Vasseur said he was back to 100%. Lost a big bit of time and has fell down from 3rd place out of the top 10. After all that's happened, he's right back to where he was last year: 12th. But this is not the same Guillaume as last year, this Guillaume is much stronger. In the penultimate day at the Dauphiné he actually got dropped on the second last climb but fought back on to finish on the final podium. He's a fighter.

It doesn't look good but it's not over. One thing we know about Guillaume: he will attack!

 

[Rts123]

Would he be best trying for KOM?

 

[IndianCyclist]

Bit of a reality check but good effort so far. I hope he does not focus only on TDF

 

[Bolder]

Here you can see the problem with inexperience and a weak or nonexistant team. Martin spent way too much energy after going down the day before yesterday -- on a pan-flatstage before the biggest climbing stage of the tour -- when he should have been focused on saving as much energy as possible. I think he'd have stayed with Porte/Landa/Lopez otherwise. Still looking pretty good for a Top 10, but if he's on the back foot Sunday will be a disaster, GC wise.

 

[bob.a.feet]

11th place, he's only gone and done it. Better than last year. This was a learning experience for the philosopher. Next year, yellow.

He's off to the Worlds next, then the Ardennes before winning La Vuelta.

Allez Guillaume!

 

[BlueRoads]

11th place, he's only gone and done it. Better than last year. This was a learning experience for the philosopher. Next year, yellow.

He's off to the Worlds next, then the Ardennes before winning La Vuelta.

Allez Guillaume!

His time trial was a lot better than I expected after looking at previous results. I wonder if Cofidis will leave their sprinter at home next year (although I really like Viviani!) and give him more support.

 

[bob.a.feet]

His time trial was a lot better than I expected after looking at previous results. I wonder if Cofidis will leave their sprinter at home next year (although I really like Viviani!) and give him more support.

They might as well - Viviani's been terrible this year.

I like the profile pic, such an iconic image. With the nature of cycling we very rarely get to see riders react to something incredible, as usually they are in the race themselves. These guys are in immense disbelief.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I wonder if Cofidis will leave their sprinter at home next year (although I really like Viviani!) and give him more support.

It’s pretty simple:

• Send Viviani and his b-tech lead out to Giro
• give Martin more support (I think they need to do some good signings)
• bring Laporte as the “sprinter” option. He can get a few top 10, and he is also strong enough to contribute to Martin.

 

[Bolder]

11th place, he's only gone and done it. Better than last year. This was a learning experience for the philosopher. Next year, yellow.

He's off to the Worlds next, then the Ardennes before winning La Vuelta.

Allez Guillaume!

One thing he may have learned is not to come in too hot. GM spent a lot of energy in the Dauphine, was a good result of course, but he paid for it in the Alps.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He can travel home from Spain with a nice jersey on his back. He tried and tried again, but he just couldn't get that stage win nor climb his way back in the GC. But he has managed to reach the sweet spot somewhere else:

ProCyclingStats Best Rider Ranking

Ranking of the best riders of this moment, currently led by Tadej PogaÄar with 4588 points before Remco Evenepoel (2889) and Jasper Philipsen (2355).

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Red Rick]

Nice ride in the Vuelta, even if without the top form.

 

[Bolder]

Was great seeing him in every break. Next year I hope he goes for the polka dots in the Tour. Not sure the route favors a GC campaign.

 

[bob.a.feet]

He's been unfortunate not to win this year, but with the KOM and a Dauphiné podium it's not a bad season at all. Plus, he surely has the combativity award in the bag, no?

I think more Ardennes next year would be good, and I think he should ride the Tour and Vuelta again. He could become a great KOM hunter but I'd really like to see him go for GC again considering his form in Dauphiné and the beginning of the Tour.

It's certainly been a breakout year for him, let's hope it's just the beginning.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He's been gifted a new pair of shoes.

 

[BlueRoads]

Just re-watched a part of Imola. How good was Martin, please? I remembered him really strong, but he actually deserves a co-champion jersey.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

They have apparently named a village after him or something. French isn't one of my strong points.