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Cyrille Guimard

Cyrille Guimard
Cyrille Guimard, Tour de France 1973.jpg
Guimard at the 1973 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name Cyrille Guimard
Nickname Napoleon
Born (1947-01-20) January 20, 1947 (age 70)
Bouguenais, France
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Road, track, cyclo-cross
Role Sprinter
Professional team(s)
1968–1973 Mercier
1974–1975 Flandria
1976 Gitane
Managerial team(s)
1976–1977 Gitane
1978–1985 Renault
1986–1989 Système U
1990–1995 Castorama
1997 Cofidis
2003– Vélo Club Roubaix
Major wins
7 stages Tour de France

Cyrille Guimard (born 20 January 1947 in Bouguenais, Loire-Atlantique) is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and then a television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de France. Another protege of Guimard's, Greg LeMond, described him as "the best (coach) in the world" and "the best coach I ever had". He has been described by cycling journalist William Fotheringham as the greatest directeur sportif in the history of the Tour.

Guimard rode as a junior, an amateur and a professional, on the road, track and in cyclo-cross. He was national champion in all three forms: road in 1967 as an amateur, track sprint in 1970 and cyclo-cross in 1976. The riders ahead of him in the 1970 and 1971 professional road championships were disqualified and the titles not given. He said: "After those in front of me were disqualified for failing the drugs test, the federation never had the idea of giving me the titles.". Guimard was then president of the riders' union (see below) and the resentment that that created was why he was not named champion, he said, while others in the same position had been.

Guimard was a sprinter who won nearly 100 races in eight seasons. He won stages of the Tour de France in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 - four of them in 1972 - although he finished the race only twice. He came 62nd in 1970 and seventh in 1971, the only year in which he didn't win a stage. He wore the green jersey of leader of the points competition in 1972 and won the combativity award in the 1972. He also won the points competition of the Vuelta a España and the Six-Days of Grenoble in 1972.

Guimard's most striking Tour de France was in 1972, when he wore the maillot jaune of leadership and matched Eddy Merckx in the mountains. Fighting to keep the lead on long climbs created pain in his knees, one of which he injured in 1969 in an accident with a car while he was training. Merckx won two stages in the Alps and Guimard the next. Merckx tried to dispose of him on a 28 km stage to Mont Revard but Guimard, instead of cracking, won by 10 cm as the Belgian raised his hands thinking he had won.


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Wikipedia

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