All images: Wikimedia Commons
2024, the power of youth
For their second season at the World Tour level, the amazing riders promoted from Groupama-FDJ's development team faced big expectations at the start of the season. They did not disappoint, as eight of the fifteen victories for the French team in 2024 came from one of these riders.
It all started in Australia in January, where Laurence Pithie scored five top 5 finishes at the Santos Tour Down Under before winning his first ever World Tour race at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race. The Kiwi’s amazing start to the season did not stop there as he wore the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice before finishing 15th at Milano-Sanremo and 7th at Paris-Roubaix despite a crash.
His French teammates Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez were not excluded from the team’s successes. Indeed, the former also raised his arms in the World Tour, during Itzulia Basque Country, and showed great strength from February to October while the latter was the top scorer of Groupama-FDJ in 2024 with five wins, even though none of them were at the top level of cycling. Their teammate Paul Penhoët also showed great strength throughout the year, finishing on seven podiums despite only starting his season in May due to an injury.
Outside of these young stars, Stefan Küng also illustrated his strength by winning his first Grand Tour stage at La Vuelta, ending a torrid two-year streak for his team without a win on the Grand Tours and also finishing in the top 5 of Paris-Roubaix. David Gaudu rediscovered really good form at the end of the season, finishing 6th at La Vuelta and 9th at Il Lombardia, while Valentin Madouas won an amazing silver medal in the Olympic Games road race.
All round, Groupama-FDJ had a solid year, despite securing only three victories at World Tour level. The young generation continued to demonstrate amazing development and the presence of some more experienced riders such as Küng, Gaudu and Madouas made the progression of the wonderkids easier.
Youth on the march: Laurence Pithie (left), Lenny Martinez (centre) and Romain Grégoire (right) were responsible for over half of the team's 2024 victories between them (image credits: Rz98; Mfonzatti; kallerna)
Compensating for the losses
The only downside of developing such talents is the difficulty of retaining them in the team long-term. That was exactly the problem that Groupama-FDJ faced during this interseason. Indeed, out of the eight riders who comprised the next gen arrival, four left the team at the end of their contract, only two seasons later. Among those who left, were two of the top performing riders of the French team last season: Lenny Martinez and Laurence Pithie. With the great seasons of these two riders, offers from teams with bigger financial resources arrived and Marc Madiot’s team could not align on the contract propositions.
With the departures of these youngsters, Groupama-FDJ's management team made the choice of a mix between experience and youth. The main recruitment of the winter is undeniably Guillaume Martin. At 31 years old, the Frenchman has spent the last five seasons of his career with Cofidis, where he had a leadership role. His great climbing abilities saw him finish in the top 15 of each Grand Tour he took part in since 2019. If Guillaume Martin is not a rider who raises his arms often, he is very consistent and will take on the role of leader in the mountains for his new team; something he knows very well how to do.
The other main recruitment of Groupama-FDJ for 2025 was more unexpected. Indeed, after only one season spent with Movistar, Rémi Cavagna decided to discover a French environment for the first time in his career. The native of Clermont-Ferrand is a very good time-trialist, as proven by his stage wins at the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of Poland in this exercise. The 29-year-old has also proven to be a crucial teammate for his leaders on the flat, as he is able to lead a peloton for numerous kilometres. The Frenchman did not come alone from Movistar, as the Swiss Johan Jacobs also joined Groupama-FDJ, in order to help at the Flanders Classics.
Two key signings for Groupama-FDJ: Guillaume Martin, and Rémi Cavagna (image credits: Cs-wolves; René Hourdry)
Finally, to complete their 2025 roster, Marc Madiot and his staff chose to give their trust to French riders who are inexperienced at World Tour level. Among them, the oldest is Tom Donnenwirth who, at 26 years old, has a very singular career as he only began racing at the professional level last year, with the development team of Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale. Alongside him, Clément Braz Afonso will discover the highest level of cycling after one year with CIC U Nantes while Brieuc Rolland will continue the tradition of riders passing from the Conti Groupama-FDJ to the World Tour team.
Overall, the winter was quite calm for Groupama-FDJ in terms of numbers, as only six riders arrived, with seven departures. However, the next winter should be much more animated with leaders of the team such as Stefan Küng and David Gaudu who only have a contract until the end of 2025.
A duo of leaders for the mountains
Since the retirement of Thibaut Pinot, David Gaudu alone has had to assume the ambitions of Groupama-FDJ for general classifications, especially at the Grand Tours. However, the arrival of Guillaume Martin will allow the rider from Brittany to share the pressure with another set of shoulders and also to discover another Grand Tour for the first time.
Last season was unique for David Gaudu. After a complicated start that saw him unable to finish either Paris-Nice or Itzulia Basque Country, the native of Landivisiau in Brittany returned to winning ways at the Tour du Jura, giving him hope for the Tour de France. However, the French rider was anonymous during those three weeks, finishing the race that saw him finish fourth in 2022 down in 65th place. However, less than a month later, Gaudu had high ambitions at the start of La Vuelta, that solidified during the race. Indeed, after a complicated first week, the Frenchman managed to climb back up the general classification, finishing the Spanish Grand Tour in sixth, a result that reassured him, as he closed his season with a ninth place at Il Lombardia.
David Gaudu's form has been inconsistent, but his win at the Tour de Luxembourg was a welcome return (image credits: Martino Photos; Gilles Hosch)
Alongside Gaudu next season, Guillaume Martin will also be one of the primary cards for the general classifications for Groupama-FDJ. His presence will allow Marc Madiot and his staff to distribute the races between the two, a thing that can only be beneficial for the team throughout the year. During the team presentation at the beginning of January, the programme of the two climbers has been revealed by their team. For the first time in his career, Gaudu will ride the Giro, with an objective of finishing in the five best. He will then aim for stage wins during the Tour de France, where his teammate and compatriot Guillaume Martin will be the designated leader of the team. The former rider of Cofidis will then finish the year at La Vuelta, hoping to improve upon his 15th place of 2024.
A solid group for the Classics
Since the creation of the team, the Classics have always been important for Groupama-FDJ. Indeed, their general manager Marc Madiot triumphed at Paris-Roubaix and it is a race that is still dear to his heart. In 2024, the French team recorded a double top 10 at the Hell of the North, thanks to Laurence Pithie and Stefan Küng. Though the Kiwi rider left this winter, the Swiss remains, and will hope to finally claim victory in a cobbled race.
At 31 years old, Küng has been one of the most consistent riders in the Flanders Classics over the past few years. Indeed, he is on a streak of three top 5s in a row at Paris-Roubaix and he also finished in the top 6 at the Ronde van Vlaanderen twice in the past three years. With the presence of superhumans such as Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert it is hard to see Küng triumphing at the end of a cobbled Monument, however, the beauty of the cobbles is that anything can happen and the consistency of the former European time-trial champion in such races may be rewarded in 2025.
Küng and Madouas have both proven consistent in the Classics (image credits: Sandro Halank; Filip Bossuyt)
Alongside Küng, Valentin Madouas will also be a man to watch during the spring. The silver medallist at the recent Olympics Games is one of the most durable riders in the peloton and the harder a race is, the better he feels. His third place at the Ronde van Vlaanderen 2022 is a very good example of the Breton's resilience. His puncheur capacities mean that Madouas is also capable of shining at the Ardennes Classics, as he showed last year with a seventh place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In these races, he could find the help of Romain Grégoire, who showed the totality of his potential last season in some of the biggest races in the World.
Around these riders, a very interesting group of classics men can be found on Groupama-FDJ’s 2025 roster. For the cobbles, riders such as Olivier Le Gac, Lewis Askey and Rémi Cavagna should be extremely helpful for their leaders, while Quentin Pacher or Rudy Molard may be more present during the Ardennes races. Overall, the French team has great potential in one-day races, including the French Cups, where young riders such as Thibaud Gruel or Brieuc Rolland could show their talent on very hilly races.
Enjoyed this? Check out our previous men's WT previews:
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