Guillaume Martin at his first GIRO

The Cofidis team is preparing to compete in the first Grand Tour of the season with ambition. For the first time in his career, the Normand will compete in the Giro. His solid experience of the Grand Tours (5 participations in the Tour de France, 2 in the Vuelta) will necessarily be an asset to approach these three weeks of competition. During his last 5 Grand Tours, Guillaume has always finished in the ‘top 20’. His progress is constant since he remains in two 'top 10', at the end of the last Grande Boucle (8th) and the Vuelta (9th).

Returning to competition last Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the climber completed more than three weeks of training at altitude in Sicily, in particular on the slopes of Etna, in order to adapt to Italian roads. He will do everything to join in the victory of certain stages (there will be 6 in the mountains) and aim for the general classification.

Guillaume will be supported by the whole team, like Pierre-Luc Périchon, Anthony Perez, Davide Villella, Rémy Rochas, very prominent during the last Vuelta (15th), and Wesley Kreder. All these riders, exemplary teammates, will also be able to do well in order to aim for a stage victory.

“The objective will be to achieve a good, even a very good result in the general classification. I hope to do better than my best performance in a Grand Tour (8th). During the three-week course in Sicily and on the slopes of Etna, I worked well, rode well. Admittedly, I only had one day of racing before the Giro (Liège-Bastogne-Liège) so it will be a bit of an unknown. But I hope to build pressure throughout the three weeks and I am very happy to discover this Grand Tour. It will be a first. I have good memories in Italy for having won a stage in the Tour of Sicily and another in the Tour of Tuscany. This is a race that is very suitable for climbers and should be suitable for me too! »