Guillaume Martin set back in Marie-Blanque.
-
Screenshot / France TV
Well placed in the race for the podium, Guillaume Martin is struggling to gain respect in the mountains.
The leaders are not used to seeing a Cofidis jersey so long in the mountains with the best.
More and more regular, the French believes that he has been heckled in the Pyrenees.
We thought we knew a lot about the unspoken rules of the peloton, supporting anecdotes worthy of the Godfather.
Remember Mario Cippollini, who in his days of splendor, decided almost everything during the stages of the plain, from the time of the pee break, until the time in advance granted to the breakaway, in passing by the information on the guy who would be allowed to parade at the head of the pack in the village of his childhood.
Guillaume Martin here ahead of Quintana and Roglic during the 9th stage of the Tour de France.
- FERNAND FOURCADE / SIPA
But, we said to ourselves, all that disappears in the editing, where the slope brings everyone back to their humble place, without a favor for egos and reputations.
Well Guillaume Martin teaches us that the codes of the peloton are not forgotten with the percentages.
Read it during the last Dauphiné, which he finished third overall:
"Roglic is quite untouchable and, despite everything, I was not far away, if not to touch him, at least to hang him.
I was placed a bit far away when the attack occurred.
In the last kilometers, I was more in the last two or three of the group.
It is not obvious insofar as this Cofidis jersey, it must be respected at this level.
I find myself with runners who have very strong armadas and who are used to meeting each other.
When I try to get back up, I get heckled a bit ”.
The observation had piqued our curiosity, so we revived the Parisian climber on the subject during the rest day.
Because if the painting has changed focal length, the guy kept the same place, warm on the podium, which still means something after the Pyrenees.
“In the past, I didn't make noise, I was the last of the group, I was there without being there.
Now I tell myself that I have my place in the line to take the wheel of Roglic, of Bernal.
They are still struggling to give me this place which they leave to Alaphilippe, Pinot, Bardet.
This was the case in the Pyrenees where I got heckled when I wanted to go up ”.
Illustration in three stages during last Sunday's stage between Pau and Larruns:
At 4.5 km from the top of Marie-Blanque, we see Martin around the 20th position in the group of favorites, behind the main contenders for victory.
Guillaume Martin set back in Marie-Blanque.
- Screenshot / France TV
At 3 km from the summit, he is in 14th position in a very small group, behind runners like Landa, Bernal, Quintana, and even teammates of leaders like Carapaz or Caruso.
A little further, Martin did not really manage to come back up.
- Screenshot / France TV
Consequence a kilometer further: when Pogaçar carries his attack, Martin is in eleventh position, behind Romain Bardet, and the distance to cover to follow Roglic at the head of the chasing pack is already very important.
All those who will manage to pick up on Pogaçar are better placed than him (Roglic, Bernal, Landa).
Only Quintana, better positioned too, will not fill the gap.
On arrival, Martin loses 10 seconds without ever having been in a position to respond to the attack by the leader of Bahrain.
Martin too far away when starting Pogaçar.
- Screenshot / France TV
"A jersey that we end up with in the leaders"
Lots of exciting thoughts in there.
Already 27 years old, Martin does not land at bowling in a swage Slovenian UFO like Steve Buscemi.
No one has ever promised him glory on the Tour, and the foreign media are late in discovering the boy's philosophy diploma, without showing any crazy interest in his sporting progress.
Let's get to the point: the best-ranked Frenchman overall has to make his own way in the passes, where the leaders, who have often sniffed at each other for years, form a caste apart.
@LeTour # 9: Meet Guillaume Martin, young (b.1993) rider of the Covidis team.
He holds a philosophy Master and wrote "Socrates by bike" a philosophical fantasy in which illustrious philosophers climb the passes alongside the riders!
#Learnfrench with Sartre as "race director" pic.twitter.com/NG5pu2UW6u
- Alliance Française Miami Metro (@afmiamimetro) September 8, 2020
“It works on the charts.
It is obvious that we leave more easily the place in the group of favorites to a big name than to Guillaume Martin ”, explains David Moncoutié.
The former tricolor climber of the dark years was a bit like the Martin of his time, if we are willing to forget that he loved to hang out at the bottom of the hold, especially not to disturb the captains.
But he is less fatalistic for his successor than he was for himself.
“Guillaume doesn't come out of nowhere.
He is a super regular runner who is present every day at the front in the mountains.
And he is very high overall.
This is how we make ourselves respected.
I didn't like to rub, but in the Vuelta, with the climber's jersey, it was something else, I was more easily allowed to position myself in the first places ”.
Above all, Martin is not the insufferable wheel sucker who does not move an ear to secure his 8th place as a grocer in Paris.
“He tries to go out regularly, although it's not impressive every time.
It is a jersey that we end up retaining among the leaders.
"
"A team member who knows how to talk to you is priceless"
Precision of importance when we talk about the Cofidis jersey.
which has not really amazed the followers with its presence in the mountains since Moncoutié hung up.
"It is sure that it is not the same presence as Ineos or the Jumbo, admits the latter.
We're talking about a guest team that isn't even part of the World Tour.
It is not the easiest to exist ”.
And that goes beyond a simple question of legitimacy.
Unlike Roglic or Bernal, Martin has to do his own thing at the foot of the passes, where you have to know how to emerge at the head of the peloton without wasting too much energy.
Alain Gallopin, former sports director of the Trek, takes an example that he considers meaningful: “The day Alaphillipe attacked to take the yellow in Nice, he had the legs to go because Devenyns put him back up and Jungels makes the tempo in front of him.
If Julian had had to do this on his own, he would never have been able to get out because he would have already blown his cartridge.
A teammate who knows how to place you is priceless.
Guillaume, he lacks support at this level, unless Herrada or Edet go up a notch by the end of the Tour.
"
If all professional athletes could think like Guillaume Martin ... # TDF2020 https://t.co/YQCxhgtSu6
- Valentin Vié (@VieValentinPro) September 8, 2020
"Their gaze has changed, I am making my place little by little"
Now is the time to defeat a preconceived idea: yes, you save energy when you ride behind a teammate who sets up on the pace you want, even in high mountains, where every effort must be counted.
Martin with the subtitles: “To bring me to the front of the group, it's as if I had to make a first attack.
"
Impossible, therefore, to jump in the wheel of the type who poses a mine ten meters in front, under penalty of exploding in flight.
“When the levels are as homogeneous as on this Tour, there is a huge difference between who is at the front and whoever brings up the rear, adds Moncoutié.
Unless you are very much above, you cannot afford the fantasy of being in 10th place if something happens.
"
Tour de France: "Third, I would have signed for that", admits Guillaume Martin
➡️ https://t.co/4AR98Dz0ug pic.twitter.com/TbOp8RbyzM
- Le Parisien - Sports (@LeParisienSport) September 7, 2020
Especially since Martin can no longer even benefit from the surprise effect that accompanies second-rank climbers, who are sometimes allowed to have fun in the most total indifference.
"Martin or not Martin, today, nobody is going to let go of the third overall", Gallopin slice.
"Their outlook has changed, I am beginning to be known, considered, I am making my place little by little, now welcomes the person concerned, who wanted to be premonitory after the Dauphiné:" By dint of showing performances like this, can - to be that I would make myself more respected and I will manage more easily to go up in the line of the runners ”.
We are almost there.
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