Frédéric Guesdon (born 14 October 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 com ...

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,

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. He turned professional in 1995 with the French Le Groupement 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 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

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, historical ...

Paris–Roubaix. On the day, of his 1997 Paris–Roubaix victory, he persuaded his team director Marc Madiot to designate him a protected rider alongside his team leader

Max Sciandri Maximilian Sciandri (born 15 February 1967) is a retired Great Britain, British road racing cyclist of Italy, Italian descent. He competed as an Italian national up to February 1995, then took British citizenship. He won the bronze medal in the ...

.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 bicycle racer, road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classic ...

, 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 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 The 2006 UCI ProTour was the second year of the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI UCI ProTour, ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. The prelude to the 2006 ProTour ...

race

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m ...

, 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 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 Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in south ...

;1997 : 1st

: 1st Classic Haribo : 1st Stage 2

: 2nd Polynormande ;1998 : 5th

Grand Prix de Denain Grand Prix de Denain is a professional road bicycle racing, cycle road race held in Denain, France. For 10 years from 2005 the race was organized as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, before becoming a 1.HC event for th ...

: 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 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.). It was held over f ...

: 3rd

Grand Prix d'Isbergues Grand Prix d'Isbergues is a professional cycle road race held in Isbergues, Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which ...

;2000 : 1st Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 1st Stage 1 Giro della Provincia di Lucca : 3rd

: 8th Dwars door Vlaanderen ;2001 : 1st 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 Tro-Bro Léon ( or ''The'' ''Hipsters’ Paris—Roubaix''; ) is a professional cycle road race held in Finistère, Brittany. The event was first run in 1984 as an amateur race before becoming a professional race since 2000. The race was establi ...

;2002 : 1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 4th Overall

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

;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 () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

: 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 Belgium, officially the Kingdom ...

;2004 : 2nd

: 4th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge : 5th Cholet-Pays de Loire : 7th

;2006 : 1st

: 2nd Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo ::1st Prologue : 3rd

: 4th Overall

: 7th

;2007 : 1st Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo ;2008 : 1st

: 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 ;2009 : 6th Grand Prix de la Somme : 9th GP Ouest–France

References

External links

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