If you happen to’re travelling to the Tour de France this July, and in want of a eating companion, Groupama FDJ’s supervisor Marc Madiot is offered, at a value.
The French staff is operating plenty of auctions throughout this 12 months’s race, providing race-worn jerseys, signed dossard numbers, and an eye catching flagship lot – a dinner with Madiot.
The winner will spend a night on the squad’s resort with the staff supervisor, “in direct proximity to the riders”, and also will obtain a tour of the staff’s bus.
Chatting with Biking Weekly, Madiot defined that he has already hosted related experiences twice earlier than. Does he like doing it? “Sure,” he mentioned. “Not every single day, however each from time to time it isn’t unhealthy.”
Final 12 months, the Frenchman remembers, he and the fortunate winner “spent the night in a pleasant Parisian restaurant”. The meal this time spherical will happen in Nîmes, on the night of stage 16, and the winner will likely be allowed to carry a visitor.
Throughout final 12 months’s Tour, Groupama-FDJ’s mealtimes have been drawn into controversy, when Jumbo-Visma supervisor Richard Plugge claimed he noticed “a French staff” consuming “huge beers” on the remainder day of their resort. Groupama-FDJ have been understood to be the one French squad staying in the identical place.
“Alcohol is poison,” Plugge mentioned, “and when you find yourself already drained, it will make you much more fatigued.”
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Madiot later responded to the feedback, calling them “shabby”, and saying he “did not give a rattling about what he [Plugge] says.” He additionally corrected his Jumbo-Visma counterpart, including that his riders have been truly consuming Perrier water.
On the finish of the race in Paris, Madiot mocked the change, holding a fan signal that learn ‘a bit of beer for Jumbo’. He informed Biking Weekly that the winner of the newest public sale will obtain the identical hospitality.
“There’s all the time a beer for the winner,” he smiled. “And, in fact, there’s all the time wine.”
The lot is at present stay on the web site of on-line public sale home Catawiki, with the very best bid at €450 (£381). It closes this Sunday 7 July.
The positioning can also be providing two additional experiences with Madiot, every comprising a “day on the coronary heart of the Tour de France” alongside the Frenchman in his pre-race automobile. One of many heaps is for stage 12, between Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot, and the opposite for stage 16 to Nîmes.
To bid on the heaps, and win an opportunity to share a bottle of wine with Madiot, go to the Catawiki web site.
