2021 in the wheel of sprinter Arnaud Démare

Travelogue. As close as possible to sensations, to emotions. In the calm and withdrawal of moments of pause or doubt. In the euphoria of good times. In A year in my wheel (written with the collaboration of Mathieu Coureau, for Talent Sport editions), Arnaud Démare confides in his daily life as champion and man. His year (9 bouquets, with a masterful success on Paris-Tours in conclusion) was not as prosperous as in 2020 (14 victories), it is more touching. The exposure of Picard reveals the violence of feelings and the fragility of the construction of success. A testimony. Arnaud Démare comments on some extracts.

The sprinter, this “center forward»From a football team

Football fan, Marc Madiot describes his sprinter as a “center forward in a football team, Arnaud is not the guy who makes the last pass. He is the goalscorer»

«That’s it. You have to score. It has to turn, to avoid the psychological side. I know I can lean on my train. When they say it’s our victory, it’s us who will win, when they have this state of mind, this confidence, this desire, we know that in the end it’s for us. Cycling is so hard that when things are going well, you shouldn’t let anything go. 20 or 25 km from the finish, we are wheel to wheel. If one is missing, it is called into the headset. Before, everyone makes their own little life, we meet in strategic places but there, we show that we are there. We know how everyone’s legs are and the sprint articulation is already done. The goal is for them to launch me in the best conditions, 200 m from the line. There, I know if I am in a good position to win …»

Ketones, miracle product of some teams

Symbol of cycling that always goes faster, Arnaud Démare writes: “I sometimes feel like I’m eating salad while others are eating pasta, it’s not clear if ketones (a drink compared to a fuel that also helps you lose weight in training) is enough, nor how it works. But it speaks in the peloton (…) This season several teams are at the same level. We even see sprinters performing unexpectedly in the mountains, even mind-blowing, climbing the Col de la Colombière on the large plateau.»

Before confiding: “It was the photograph of a big post-Tour disappointment. This does not prevent me from having ambitions of victories. But what is needed is that there are no inequalities. The MPCC (Movement for a credible cycling, to which the Groupama-FDJ team adheres) prohibits them. But either we prohibit for everyone, or we do not prohibit. Differences create inequalities.»

“The Whistling Father”

«I have always ridden with my father Josué, my mother Nadine, my sister Hélène, my uncle, my grandfather and my cousins. We all formed almost a platoon (…) In the peloton my father is nicknamed “the whistling father”. The benchmark to know where it is is its whistle. When he whistles, I know where he is (…). Still, there are plenty of people hissing and screaming. But he, I pick him up direct, suddenly I also whistle …»Writes Picard.

«Morgane (his wife, Editor’s note), she undergoes all my emotions (…) when I come back from a training session, that I had good feelings, that I do not doubt, it’s great (…). On the other hand, when you have moments of doubt, that you had a shit in training, rain, that you are cold, that you cannot warm up, that you stay three hours in the shower, that you missed out on one race, that you must be fine for the next one, she can suffer a bit from the grumpy man who comes home. I watch out anyway.»

And to confide: “These are essential links. They have always been there. My parents have always been, Morgane, my wife for ten years. They are loyal people, no matter what I do they love me for who I am.»

His small business

“Gran Canaria (December 2020) is an internship that I do of my own free will, a personal internship that I undertake at my own expense in order to train in the best possible conditions. I say that because people might think that all of our internships are taken care of and organized by our teams. No, it does not happen like that in the real life of cyclists (…) I have a physical trainer, I have a physiotherapist (…) I surrounded myself with these people at my expense, when others prefer to buy a game console ”, writes Arnaud Démare. Before explaining: “A career goes so quickly. The will is to make the most of it, not to let anything go. From the first professional years, I really didn’t want to have the regret of telling myself: “If I had been a little more professional, I could have won this, this or that…” I have no regrets about this. that I was able to carry out during my career and the commitment that I put into it. I will be able to leave calmly but I still have time… “

Paris-Roubaix, “Ben Hur on his 2021 tank in the North of France »

«Sunday evening, after the race, I dropped everything! My hands no longer wanted. I felt like I was holding a bottle of water, a spoon, but no, it fell to the ground. No blisters, no burns, but nothing more that held, the clamp no longer worked (…) Casually, the mud dampened the pavement a little. Let’s say it was more ice skating rather than jackhammer (…) From the first paved sector, I realized that we were living in a historic edition (…) I felt like I was in a movie, to roll in a movie set, something like that. Even worse: to be in a reality TV show where we would have put mud, rain, cobblestones like tiles and where we would have asked 200 guys to ride their bikes with cameras. Kind of Koh-Lanta, circus games, Ben Hur on his 2021 chariot in the north of France, in the gray and the cold.» 34^e of an autumnal Paris-Roubaix, Arnaud Démare makes the “Queen of classics” one of his “wildest dreams, with the title of world champion. Something that marks in the bike.»