Frédéric Guesdon

Frédéric Guesdon (born 14 October 1971) is a French former professional road bicycle racer who competed as a professional between 1995 and 2012, most notably for UCI ProTeam FDJ–BigMat, spending 16 years of his career with the team.

Guesdon was born in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, Brittany. He turned professional in 1995 with the French Le Groupement team and moved on to the Polti team in 1996, where he scored eleventh place at Paris–Roubaix and third place at the French championship. Guesdon had his breakthrough year in 1997. Having signed with the new Française des Jeux team, he scored an early victory for the team in the prestigious spring monument Paris–Roubaix. On the day, of his 1997 Paris–Roubaix victory, he persuaded his team director Marc Madiot to designate him a protected rider alongside his team leader Max Sciandri. After a race full of punctures, Guesdon was with the leading group, containing the defending champion Johan Museeuw, when they entered the velodrome and attacked early to win. Later he would put his race winning move down to inexperience. Guesdon also took victories at the Classic Haribo and a stage in the Tour du Limousin. Guesdon had to wait until 2000 for his next major victory, a stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a feat he repeated in 2002. Despite a complete lack of victories between this win and his next win, over three-and-a-half years later in the 2006 Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Guesdon remained loyal to Française des Jeux and Française des Jeux to him. This paid dividends when Guesdon won the 2006 UCI ProTour race Paris–Tours, his first ProTour victory and the first overall ProTour victory both for Française des Jeux since the inception of the competition in 2005. Following this result he would serve as a guide to new young team recruits.

In 1998 Madiot opined that Guesdon "[was] not a great rider, but he will have some great rides".

A hip injury at the 2012 Tour Down Under provided him with determination to recover for his swansong. He retired on 8 April 2012, after completing Paris–Roubaix.