Frédéric Guesdon

Frédéric Guesdon (born October 14, 1971 in Saint-Méen-le-Grand in Brittany ) is a former French cyclist and sports director .

Career

Frédéric Guesdon began his professional career in 1995 with the cycling team Le Groupement and moved to the Italian team Polti in 1996 and a year later to the French team La Française des Jeux , where he rode until the end of his career.

He celebrated his first professional success in 1997 when he won the Classic Haribo one-day race . A little later he achieved the greatest triumph of his active career: He won the classic Paris – Roubaix in the sprint of a top group in the u. a. Jo Planckaert , Johan Museeuw and Frédéric Moncassin drove. In 2000 and 2002 he was able to win two more stages at the Dauphiné Libéré . Another classic victory was achieved by Guesdon when he was one of the last two remaining members of a larger escape group to win the autumn classic Paris-Tours in a sprint against Kurt Asle Arvesen .

Guesdon, who wanted to end his career at Paris-Roubaix in 2012 as a record participant and winner of 1997, had to fight his way back to the professional field after a hip fracture at the Tour Down Under in January and drove in his seventeenth and last start as 88th with 18:52 Minutes behind the winner over the finish line, but was not classified because the time limit was exceeded . Guesdon took part in the Tour de France eight times during his career and only failed to finish once.

After his active career, he became the sporting director of his cycling team, FDJ.