Their departure also hastens the exit of an unreconstructed culture based on old-school bias, patriotism and nepotism blended with cultural and gender bias—and more than a little pomposity. The three men were relics of a bygone era, when racing was about guts and guile, when riders’ agents didn’t exist, when deals were done with a handshake, probably over a bottle or two of Pomerol, and when your word was your bond.
Yet, for all their flaws, their contribution to the careers of so many riders was huge.
As the figureheads of three of the sport’s most longstanding teams—Madiot with the various incarnations of French team FDJ; Lefevere through the Mapei and Quick-Step years; and Bernaudeau, a lynchpin of the racing scene in western France through a series of team sponsors—they were voluble, provocative, unfiltered.
They have been working in cycling since long before the extreme weather protocol, the advent of the Tour Down Under, the early-season desert races, the globalization of the peloton or the meteoric rise of the Tour de France Femmes. The trio were products of “old Europe,” from a time when men were men, Tour de France champions were Belgian, French, Italian or Spanish, and the thought of an American, Danish or Slovenian rider winning the world’s biggest bike race was almost laughable.
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