Frédéric Guesdon
Encyclopedia
Frédéric Guesdon is a French
professional road bicycle racer for UCI Professional Continental 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. 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 and by a French rider since the inception of the competition in 2005.
1999
2000
2001
2002
2004
2006
2008
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
professional road bicycle racer for UCI Professional Continental team .
Guesdon was born in Saint-Méen-le-Grand
Saint-Méen-le-Grand
Saint-Méen-le-Grand is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in north-western France.It is located southwest of Rennes between Montauban-de-Bretagne and Gaël.At the 2006 Tour de France, Saint-Méen-le-Grand hosted the start of Stage 8....
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. He turned professional in 1995 with the French Le Groupement team and moved on to the Polti
Team Polti
Team Polti is a former Italian professional cycling team. Polti became an independent team back in 1994, after the separation of Lampre-Polti, and was active until 2000. Team Polti began in 1994 with Gianluigi Stanga as directeur sportif and Vittorio Algeri and Claudio Corti as managers. The team...
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
Classic cycle races
The classic cycle races are one-day professional cycling road races in the international calendar. Most of the events, all run in western Europe, have been fixtures on the professional calendar for decades and the oldest ones date back to the 19th Century. They are normally held at roughly the same...
Paris–Roubaix. Guesdon also took victories at the Classic Haribo
Classic Haribo
Classic Haribo was a professional cycle road race held between Uzès and Marseille, in south France. In 2005 and 2006 the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, also being part of the Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route.-Winners:...
and a stage in the Tour du Limousin
Tour du Limousin
Tour du Limousin is a 4-day road bicycle race held annually in Limousin, France. It was first held in 1968 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2011 it was upgraded to an 2.HC event. Between 1968 and 1974 it was an amateur race.-Winners:-External links:* *...
. 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
2006 UCI ProTour
The 2006 UCI ProTour was the second year of the UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races....
race Paris–Tours, his first ProTour victory and the first overall ProTour victory both for Française des Jeux and by a French rider since the inception of the competition in 2005.
Major results
1997- 1st, Paris–Roubaix
- 1st, Classic Haribo
- 1st, Stage 2, Tour du Limousin
1999
- 1st, Stage 3, Tour de l'AinTour de l'AinTour de l'Ain, also known as the Prix de l'Amitié , is an annual late season professional cycling stage race held mid-August. The first Tour de l'Ain was held in 1989 and was organized by Dante Lavacca, Armand Peracca and Maurice Josserand. From 1989 to 1992 it was an amateur event. In 1993 it...
2000
- 1st, Stage 1, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 1st, Stage 1, Giro della Provincia di LuccaGiro della Provincia di LuccaThe Giro della Provincia di Lucca is a professional road bicycle race held annually in Province of Lucca, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, previously being a stage race. It wasn't held in 2007 and the future of the race is uncertain.-Winners:...
2001
- 1st, King of the MountainsKing of the MountainsThe King of the Mountains is the title given to the best climber in a cycling road race; usually and officially known as the Mountains classification...
classification, Tour Méditerranéen
2002
- 1st, Stage 5, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
2004
- 2nd, GP d'Isbergues
2006
- 1st, Paris–Tours
- 2nd, Overall, La Tropicale Amissa Bongo OndimbaOmar BongoEl Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009....
, GabonGabonGabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
(2.2, UCI Africa Tour)- 1st, Prologue (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
, Circuit dans LibrevilleLibrevilleLibreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...
)
- 1st, Prologue (ITT
- 3rd, GP d'Isbergues
2008
- 1st, Tro-Bro LéonTro-Bro LéonTro-Bro Léon is a professional cycle road race held in Finistère, Brittany. The event was first run in 1984 as an amateur race, becoming a professional race since 2000...
Tour de France record
- 19961996 Tour de FranceThe 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day ....
: 108th overall - 19971997 Tour de FranceThe 1997 Tour de France was the 84th Tour de France, it took place July 5–27, 1997. Jan Ullrich's victory margin, of 9' 09" was the largest margin of victory since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10' 32"...
: 111th overall - 19981998 Tour de FranceThe 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage , was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of...
: 67th overall - 19991999 Tour de FranceThe 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France.The 1999 edition of Tour de...
: 106th overall - 20002000 Tour de FranceThe 2000 Tour de France was the 87th Tour de France, and took place from July 1 to July 23, 2000. It was won by American cyclist Lance Armstrong. The Tour started with an individual time trial in Futuroscope and ended traditionally in Paris. The distance travelled was 3662.5 km...
: 116th overall - 20012001 Tour de FranceThe 2001 Tour de France was particularly difficult, having contained a 67-km long team time trial, two individual time trials and five mountain-top finishes on consecutive days, the second of which being the Chamrousse special category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were...
: 124th overall - 20042004 Tour de FranceThe 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.Lance Armstrong became the first to win six Tours de France. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and...
: 129th overall