French rider says he’d "100% race the Tour without earpieces" and explains why van Aert would want him on his team

“It's a disappointment,” the 29-year-old rider from Brest began his recap of the 2025 Tour. “My role in this Tour was a bit different than usual. Now I was really there as a domestique for my leaders, to help Romain (Grégoire, ed.) and Guillaume (Martin, ed.). Our goal was really to win a stage and finish in the top 10 in the GC."

After 21 stages, the conclusion was that neither goal had been achieved. "We were close, with a few top-5 finishes, and Guillaume was also in contention for the top 10 for a long time. So it's quite a disappointment. In terms of results, it wasn't one of our best Tours, but I think it was decent. Of course, our goal in the Tour is to deliver our best performance, and I believe this experience will help us in the future."

So, no victory, and the battle for the GC was decided early on. Was it a boring Tour then? “It certainly wasn't boring for us, because it all went so fast,” laughs Madouas. “Normally, you have a few stages where you can take it easy. We didn't have any of those this time. With the first week full of punchy stages, you had a lot of riders who weren't far apart in the standings. That meant you had a real battle every day for the GC and also for the stage win.”

“Then we arrived in the mountains and Tadej Pogacar handed out some serious blows.” That had consequences for the rest of the peloton, according to the Frenchman. “The rest realized that you had to be in the breakaway to win. As a result, everyone wanted to be in the breakaway, which meant it was à bloc for a long time. It was full throttle the whole time.”

And that had consequences. "Being in the early breakaway doesn't really matter that much. The goal is to be at the front and be in a position to fight for the win. That means being at the front and conserving as much energy as possible. Several riders were tasked with achieving that balance. We tried to do that and it worked out pretty well. We had a lot of top-10 finishes, but of course we missed out on the victory.“

There were some nasty crashes in this Tour, which reignited the debate about safety. Earpieces are a much-discussed topic in this context. “They're mainly for safety,” Madouas explains. “We use them primarily for that reason, so you can warn others if there are loose stones on the road, for example. That's really the most important aspect.”

“Of course, there's also the aspect of time differences,” the Frenchman adds as an aside. “Who's still riding ahead of me? How many seconds behind? How far is the peloton? I actually find that kind of thing unfortunate in the Tour, because you know very quickly who's in the breakaway, for example. You can't really play with the chasing peloton.”

“Ultimately, you make the decisions in the race, but the sports director helps you make those decisions,” says the Groupama-FDJ rider, who would also race without earpieces. “I would 100% participate in a Tour without earpieces. Of course, you have to find a compromise, because in terms of safety, they are really important. Racing 180 to 200 kilometers every day means that we don't know every road. You can't scout all 21 stages, of course. So, someone must tell you where the dangers lurk. The safety aspect is important, but we should leave the tactical element out of it.“

In the end, 160 riders reached the finish line safely in Paris, where we saw van Aert triumph on the Champs-Élysées on the final day. Madouas had already had words of praise for the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike, while the feeling was mutual. Van Aert is reported to have said that he would sign Madouas if he were a sports director.

“He did say that,” laughs the Frenchman. “I think that's because we have a bit of the same profile, only he's better at everything. He sees cycling the same way I do. I'm not going to try to position myself everywhere all the time. I'm not going to take that risk because I don't think it's useful. For my own health and that of other riders, I'm not going to do that.”

“He has the same view, Madouas continues. “I’m someone who really sinks his teeth into something. I’m not the best in any area, but I am reliable. I can be useful in any race scenario. He must have thought: he can do a bit of everything, so if I were sports director, he could guide me through anything.”