The 20-year-old Bisontin, who is due to return to the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var on Friday, is however only discovering the World Tour, the first world division, with his Groupama-FDJ team.

But his successes in juniors - double champion of France and European champion on the road - inevitably lit the fuse in the country of the Tour de France, where we have been waiting for 38 years for a successor to Bernard Hinault, the last French winner, in 1985.

Since his debut, he has learned to juggle expectations.

"I don't act as if the pressure doesn't exist. But it doesn't bother me because I put it on myself enough", launches the student in management of companies and administrations in a calm voice, the look planted straight in the eye.

"He has understood for a long time that it is the sad fate of any French rider who gives an ounce of hope of being a potential Tour de France winner. He keeps that at a distance. He is excessively mature for his age", underlines his trainer Maxime Latourte.

Pogacar, Evenepoel?

"Aliens"

Expectations are all the more pressing as Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel have established new canons of precocity.

"I'm not trying to compare myself to these aliens. If it's going that fast for me, great. If it's going to take longer, that's okay. And maybe I'll never get there. . But I try."

French hopeful Romain Gregoire during his victory in the European Junior Road Cycling Championship, September 10, 2021 © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP/Archives

Romain Bardet, the Frenchman who has come the closest to victory on the Tour in recent years (2nd in 2016, 3rd in 2017), implores: "you have to leave him alone, let him grow for a few more years."

But until then, everything went very quickly in the career of Grégoire who discovered cycling through mountain biking at the age of seven.

In 2020, after the cancellation of the French Junior Cyclo-cross Championships, he obtained a bib for the road race in extremis and... he won it.

For his stint in hopes, he left the U19 team of AG2R for the "Conti" team (3rd division) of Groupama-FDJ.

Groupama-FDJ team manager Marc Madiot presents his team for the 2023 season, including the Swiss Stefan Kung (L) and the French Arnaud Demare (C) and Romain Gregoire (D), on December 9, 2022 in Villepinte © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP/Archives

"It hurt our hearts because he is an intelligent boy who has incredible talent," recalls AG2R general manager Vincent Lavenu.

In his new team, the Bisontin had fun and won Liège-Bastogne-Liège espoirs, a stage of the "Baby Giro" and another on the Tour de l'Avenir in 2022.

"Blood Dog"

Thibaut Pinot discovers "a nugget".

Manager Marc Madiot is so impressed that he brings no less than eight young riders from the "Conti" into his World Tour squad this season, including the very promising Lenny Martinez.

This young pack should form the backbone of the team lined up this summer for the Tour of Spain.

A race which should allow us to know a little more about the climbing qualities of Grégoire, cataloged as a puncher but whose profile can still "evolve a lot" according to his trainer.

"We will have to eat mountain passes in training. I don't put up barriers, whether in the mountains or elsewhere," said Grégoire.

Young French cyclist Romain Grégoire celebrates his title at the European Junior Championships on September 10, 2021 in Trento, Italy © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP/Archives

And watch out!

"If the opportunity to raise my arms arises, I will not deprive myself of it", warns the young man, known for his killer mentality on a bicycle, while outside, he is a quiet boy, "Cartesian" and "rather a homebody".

"As soon as he has the bib on his back, he becomes a blood dog. When there is the carrot at the end, he only sees that," insists his trainer.

And that's also why the expectations are so high.

© 2023 AFP