2023-06-13 17:23:04
The end of the story is brutal for Arnaud Démare. In an interview given to The team, the sprinter with 93 victories, who is currently competing in the Tour de Suisse until June 18, has confirmed that he will not be taking part in the Tour de France this year (July 1 to 23) and that, 12 years after his arrival at Groupama -FDJ, he was going to change teams.
Arnaud Démare, 31, was made aware a fortnight ago of his non-selection for the Tour de France 2023 through Marc Madiot, the manager of the French team. A decision that he has trouble digesting: “I am angry, disgusted because I worked for. I knew that the team was going to devote 100% to the general classification but I showed that I was a great professional and a good teammate. I felt that there was less enthusiasm, motivation around the sprint, but I thought they were going to leave me the choice”.
The 2016 Milan-San Remo winner expressed his incomprehension and frustration to his manager when he heard the news: “He called me to tell me: “Listen Arnaud, I won’t take you to the Tour”. I replied to him: I am sick of what you are doing to me after all these beautiful years, ”he reports to the sports daily.
His next team? “There are proposals”
Marc Madiot had already explained to Arnaud Démare, last month during the Boucles de la Mayenne, that he could also not keep him in the team next season. The sports director of Groupama-FDJ explained this on Tuesday to “Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France”. He notably explained in our columns why he had chosen to take Thibaut Pinot for the Tour, when he was not planned at the base, rather than Arnaud Démare. The latter will therefore not compete in his sixth Tour de France with the FDJ. A painful situation that he cannot digest: “We were the four-club team, it was sports and life memories. It’s my life he hammers. Sweep twelve years like that…”.
Pride also speaks when the Beauvaisien evokes his various participations in the Grande Boucle: “I deserve to go there. Unpretentious, five Tours de France, for the rider that I am, it’s not much, ”he says. But where will the Picard with 93 victories evolve next year? “I haven’t made my choice yet but there are proposals,” he says. Seeing the recognition, the respect of the other teams, it really feels good. I still have the win but I haven’t made my choice yet. The last months of cohabitation between Arnaud Démare and Groupama-FDJ are likely to be tense…
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