Valentin Madouas: 'At the Tour de France, I've always been missing that little something to win a stage'
Valentin Madouas dreams of raising his arms in victory on the Tour, which he is riding for the sixth time in his career. About to turn 29 – his birthday falls on July 12 – the Breton rider has made this one of his goals for the 2025 edition and hopes to relive the emotions from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, when he finished second in the road race behind Belgian Remco Evenepoel. "When I see the medal at home, I feel so happy," said the Groupama-FDJ rider. Do you think you will ever experience again, on a bike, what you felt during the Paris 2024 Olympic road race?
I don't think so, but I hope to be surprised. The Olympic Games were incredible, especially in France and in Paris! The race was magnificent. There are still great emotions to be found everywhere, and I hope to experience new magical moments, but I am not sure they will ever be as intense as during the Olympics. One year later, what memories do you have of that event?
I was really focused on my race, concentrating on my effort, but even so, I was surprised by the enthusiasm. I expected to see a lot of people, but not that many. There was an incredible amount of noise − it was deafening in Montmartre − [and] you couldn't even hear yourself talk. It was pretty wild, but I tried to block all of that out to go after that medal.
You have 74.85% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Three things we learned from the fourth Test between England and India
Their resilient display, the latest chapter in an enthralling campaign, mean India head to next week's finale at the Oval in London with hope of ending the five-Test series all square at 2-2. AFP Sport looks at three talking points from an engrossing match: India face Bumrah dilemma again Jasprit Bumrah's back injury earlier this year led India to announce the outstanding fast bowler would only feature in three games of the England series in a bid to manage his workload. And the world's top-ranked Test bowler made his third appearance of the campaign in Manchester. But with the fifth Test starting on Thursday, there is little time for Bumrah to recover after a tiring haul of 2-112 in 33 overs -- the first time the 31-year-old has conceded more than a hundred runs in a Test innings. Curiously, the only match India have so far won this series is the one Bumrah missed, when the tourists thrashed England by 336 runs in the second Test at Edgbaston. Stokes' commitment poses problems for England A captain who can lead with both bat and ball is a huge asset, but the England management may yet have to save Ben Stokes from himself with an Ashes tour of Australia on the horizon. The match at Old Trafford was a personal triumph for Stokes as he became just the fourth England cricketer to score a hundred and take five wickets in the same Test. Stokes, 34, is also now only the third man in Test history to have scored 7,000 runs and taken 200 wickets after West Indies' Garry Sobers and South Africa's Jacques Kallis. Yet there were times on Saturday, when he didn't bowl at all, when Stokes was in evident pain, clutching his thigh -- a concerning sign given his history of hamstring problems. There seemed no point in him being on the field at that stage except a lengthy absence would have delayed his return to bowling duty. And Stokes duly struck early Sunday to remove obdurate opener KL Rahul for 90. Stokes has now sent down 140 overs -- the most he has bowled in any series -- and is the leading wicket-taker on either side with 17 at an average of 25.2. But those fine figures are also a reflection of the relative lack of penetration offered by the rest of England's attack. "I'll always try to run through a brick wall for the team," said Stokes after Sunday's draw, adding: "I don't want to eat my words but the likelihood I won't play (at the Oval) is very unlikely." Resolute Gill Gill made a sensational start to his debut series as India captain with three hundreds in four innings. But when his next three knocks yielded a total of just 34 runs, it seemed the bubble had burst. He then came in on a hat-trick with India in dire straits at 0-2 in their second innings at Manchester, still more than 300 runs adrift of England's mammoth first-innings 669. But Gill responded with a marathon 103 spanning seven hours before further hundreds from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar ensured a draw. Gill has now set a new record for the most runs scored by an India batsman in a series against England of 722, surpassing team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal's 712 in 2023/24. And at the Oval he could eclipse opening great Sunil Gavaskar's all-time India series record of 774 runs, set in a four-match campaign against the West Indies back in 1970/71.
Euronews
12 hours ago
- Euronews
Tadej Pogačar crowned Tour de France champion 2025 for 4th time
After three weeks of intense effort, Wout van Art won the final and 21st stage of the Tour de France solo in 3 hours, 7 minutes and 30 seconds. The Belgian was the first to cross the finish line on the Champs-Élysées, ahead of the Yellow Jersey winner Tadej Pogačar of the men's 2025 edition of the cycling competition. For this final stage of the 132.2-kilometre Tour, the riders started in Mantes-la-Ville and made three passes over the Butte Montmartre, the emblematic site of the 2024 Olympics, for a 1.1-kilometre climb with an average gradient of 5.9%. They crossed the finish line on the world's most famous avenue, the Champs-Elysées. Tadej Pogačar wins his fourth Grande Boucle With rain threatening the finale of stage 21, the Tour de France organisers froze the general classification times with 50.3 kilometres to go in order to protect the riders. Tadej Pogačar, the 26-year-old Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates XRG, won his fourth Grande Boucle, having already won in 2020, 2021 and 2024, thus confirming his status as a cycling legend. He finished almost 4 and a half minutes ahead of his direct rivals. Jonas Vingegaard, who was very strong in the mountains but fell behind in the first time trial and the stage to Hautacam, took second place and Florian Lipowitz was third on the podium.
LeMonde
13 hours ago
- LeMonde
Pogacar wins Tour de France for fourth time
Tadej Pogacar closed out a supreme 21-day performance to win the Tour de France in Paris on Sunday, July 27, crushing his rivals in the 3,400 km slog to rack up a fourth title. Wout van Aert won the final-day cliffhanger on the cobbled roads of Montmartre, but Pogacar was spared any late challenge when rain forced times to be neutralized, but he gamely tried for the stage win anyway before Van Aert dropped him on the last climb. Pogacar was clearly enjoying himself as he played to the delighted crowds, racing to the head of the peloton near the Moulin Rouge cabaret at the foot of the climb. Huge crowds packed the old neighborhood to follow his progress up and down the narrow lanes of the popular tourist spot in his leader's yellow outfit. Belgian Van Aert produced a well-timed attack to drop Pogacar and charge to the Champs-Elysées finish line, for his second last-day stage win there. Pogacar was fourth on the day but after wins in 2020, 2021 and 2024, he proved untouchable again in the world's greatest bike race. Jonas Vingegaard, the winner in 2022 and 2023, suffered two shocking off-days and ended second overall, 4min 24sec adrift. Breakout German star Florian Lipowitz took third on his debut, rounding out the podium a distant 11 minutes off the pace in third.
