Frédéric Guesdon (born 14 October 1971) is a French former professional road bicycle racer who competed as a professional between 1995 and 2012, most notably for UCI ProTeam , spending 16 years of his career with the team.
Guesdon was born in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, Brittany. 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 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 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.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, 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. 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 "[was] not 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 Paris–Roubaix.
Major results
1996 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 6th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise 1997 1st Paris–Roubaix 1st Classic Haribo 1st Stage 2 Tour du Limousin 2nd Polynormande 1998 5th Grand Prix de Denain 6th Overall Tour du Limousin 1999 1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Ain 3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2000 1st Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stage 1 Giro della Provincia di Lucca 3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues 8th Dwars door Vlaanderen 2001 1st Mountains classification, Tour Méditerranéen 3rd Grand Prix de Denain 8th Tro-Bro Léon 2002 1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 4th Overall Étoile de Bessèges 2003 5th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 5th Grand Prix de Denain 5th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 6th Tour of Flanders 7th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 2004 2nd Grand Prix d'Isbergues 4th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge 5th Cholet-Pays de Loire 7th Tro-Bro Léon 2006 1st Paris–Tours 2nd Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo 1st Prologue 3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues 4th Overall Tour du Limousin 7th Paris–Roubaix 2007 1st Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo 2008 1st Tro-Bro Léon 4th Grand Prix de Denain 7th Tour de Vendée 8th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 9th Grand Prix de Wallonie 2009 6th Grand Prix de la Somme 9th GP Ouest–France
References
External links Eurosport Profile