Frédéric Guesdon (born October 14, 1971) is a French former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

who competed as a professional between 1995 and 2012, most notably for

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

, spending 16 years of his career with the team. Guesdon was born in

Saint-Méen-le-Grand Saint-Méen-le-Grand (; ; Gallo: ''Saent-Men'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is located west of Rennes between Montauban-de-Bretagne and Gaël. At the 2006 Tour de France, Saint-Méen-l ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. He turned professional in 1995 with the French

Le Groupement Le Groupement was a French cycling team that existed from the beginning of the 1995 season until a week before the start of that year's Tour de France in June 1995. Financial difficulties and allegations of a pyramid scheme against its main sp ...

team and moved on to the Polti team in 1996, where he scored eleventh place at

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

and third place at the French championship. Guesdon had his breakthrough year in 1997. Having signed with the new Française des Jeux team, he scored an early victory for the team in the prestigious spring

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

Paris–Roubaix. On the day, of his 1997 Paris-Roubaix victory, he persuaded his team director

Marc Madiot Marc Madiot (born 16 April 1959) is a French former professional road racing cyclist and double winner of Paris–Roubaix. He also competed in the individual road race event at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Retired from racing in 1994, he is now be ...

to designate him a protected rider alongside his team leader Max Sciandri.Starrt, J. (2014). The Cobbler Retires. In: E. Bacon and L. Birnie, ed., The Cycling Anthology: Volume One. London: Yellow Jersey Press (Original work published by Peloton Publishing 2012), pp.84-99. After a race full of punctures, Guesdon was with the leading group, containing the defending champion

Johan Museeuw Johan Museeuw (born 13 October 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and ...

, when they entered the velodrome and attacked early to win. Later he would put his race winning move down to inexperience. Guesdon also took victories at the

Classic Haribo Classic Haribo was a professional cycle road race held between Uzès and Marseille, in south France. In 2005 and 2006 the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, also being part of the Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route The ...

and a stage in the

Tour du Limousin Tour du Limousin is a 4-day road bicycle race held annually in Limousin, France. It was first held in 1968 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle raci ...

. Guesdon had to wait until 2000 for his next major victory, a stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a feat he repeated in 2002. Despite a complete lack of victories between this win and his next win, over three-and-a-half years later in the 2006 Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Guesdon remained loyal to Française des Jeux and Française des Jeux to him. This paid dividends when Guesdon won the 2006 UCI ProTour race Paris–Tours, his first ProTour victory and the first overall ProTour victory both for Française des Jeux since the inception of the competition in 2005. Following this result he would serve as a guide to new young team recruits. In 1998 Madiot opined that Guesdon " asnot a great rider, but he will have some great rides". A hip injury at the

2012 Tour Down Under The 2012 Santos Tour Down Under was the 14th edition of the Tour Down Under stage race. It took place from 17 to 22 January in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and was the first race of the 2012 UCI World Tour. The race was won by Australi ...

provided him with determination to recover for his swansong. He retired on 8 April 2012, after completing

Major results

;1996 : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships : 6th

Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February around the city of Marseille, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event ...

;1997 : 1st

: 1st

: 1st Stage 2

: 2nd

Polynormande The Polynormande is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in August in the region of Normandy, France. Between 1980 and 2002 it was a criterium. Since 2003, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental ...

;1998 : 5th

Grand Prix de Denain Grand Prix de Denain is a professional cycle road race held in Denain, France. For 10 years from 2005 the race was organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions whi ...

: 6th Overall

;1999 : 1st Stage 3

Tour de l'Ain Tour de l'Ain, also known as the Prix de l'Amitié, is an annual professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race held in eastern France. G.P. de l'Amitié The first edition of the race was in 1970, as the G.P. de l'Amitié (Friendship G.P.) ...

: 3rd

Grand Prix d'Isbergues Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

;2000 : 1st Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 1st Stage 1

Giro della Provincia di Lucca The Giro della Provincia di Lucca was a professional road bicycle race held annually in Province of Lucca, Italy held between 1999 and 2006. From 2005, the race was organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are ...

: 3rd

: 8th

Dwars door Vlaanderen Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Across Flanders)'' is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI ...

;2001 : 1st Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification

Tour Méditerranéen Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

: 3rd

: 8th Tro-Bro Léon ;2002 : 1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 4th Overall Etoile de Bessèges ;2003 : 5th

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen E3 Saxo Bank Classic, previously known as E3 BinckBank Classic, E3 Harelbeke, Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke and E3-Prijs Vlaanderen, is an annual road cycling race in Flanders, Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke, covering 203 ki ...

: 5th

: 6th

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and orga ...

: 7th

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a ...

;2004 : 2nd

: 4th Overall

Circuit Franco-Belge Circuit may refer to: Science and technology Electrical engineering * Electrical circuit, a complete electrical network with a closed-loop giving a return path for current ** Analog circuit, uses continuous signal levels ** Balanced circu ...

: 5th Cholet-Pays de Loire : 7th Tro-Bro Léon ;2006 : 1st Paris–Tours : 2nd Overall

La Tropicale Amissa Bongo La Tropicale Amissa Bongo is a road cycling race held in Gabon and is part of the UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale ( ...

::1st Prologue : 3rd

: 4th Overall

: 7th

;2007 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

;2008 : 1st Tro-Bro Léon : 4th

: 7th

Tour de Vendée Tour of Vendée is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in October (Previously May) in the region of Vendée, France, finishing in a circuit inside La Roche-sur-Yon town. From 2005 until 2009, the race was organized as a 1.1 event on the ...

: 8th

: 9th

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

;2009 : 6th

Grand Prix de la Somme The Grand Prix de la Somme (formerly the Tour de la Somme) is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in May in Somme, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It al ...

: 9th GP Ouest–France

References

External links

Eurosport Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guesdon, Frederic 1971 births Living people French male cyclists Sportspeople from Ille-et-Vilaine Cyclists from Brittany