A taste of heaven in Hell: Frédéric Guesdon, 1997 (IV/VI)
March 29 th 2018 - 11:14
Luck and fortune are sometimes a decisive factor in Paris–Roubaix. Twists of fate, false moves and strategic blunders can all make the favourites' best-laid plans go awry. Opportunists who fish in troubled waters can become heroes for a day and get a taste of glory in the Hell of the North. In 1997, Frédéric Guesdon stunned the favourites to win the sprint in the Roubaix Velodrome at the end of a hectic race.
Eagle-eyed pundits had already noticed a young rider named Frédéric Guesdon finishing 14th in the previous year's Paris–Roubaix. For the 1997 season, he moved to the new Française des Jeux team and even claimed its maiden victory at the Classic Haribo. However, on the eve of the Hell of the North, it was hard to see beyond Johan Museeuw, who was going into the race as the defending champion, the reigning world champion and the best-equipped favourite, with all the firepower of Mappei (Ballerini, Tafi and Zanini) at his disposal. French hopes were pinned on Guesdon's namesake Frédéric Moncassin, fresh off a second place in the Tour of Flanders, as well as Philippe Gaumont, the winner of Gent–Wevelgem a few days earlier.
The expected showdown unfolded in the final 30 kilometres. Museeuw jumped on every move, but after Moncassin initiated a three-man breakaway at the entrance to the Carrefour de l'Arbre sector the world champion suffered his fifth (!) puncture of the day. The rider from Toulouse and Andrei Tchmil came out of the final cobbled sector with an advantage of 18 seconds, but a six-man group caught up with them at the entrance to the Velodrome. Only one man fancied Guesdon's chances in an eight-man sprint —Marc Madiot. Yet the young Breton jumped on the final corner and outsprinted all the favourites to win the race. "The Sunday millionaire", as L'Équipe dubbed him the next day, claimed the biggest win of his career, a decade before taking his other great victory, Paris–Tours. To this day, he remains the last French rider to win the Queen of Classics.
