'Fédrigo is a kind of nebula. He is an unknown.'
T
our de France stage winner Pierrick Fédrigo looks forward to cause suffering next year in the name of his new team, Française des Jeux.
"In races," the 32-year-old Frenchman told L'Equipe, "I take pleasure in hurting others, but to do so, you have to hurt yourself."
Fédrigo leaves Bbox Bouygues Telecom after six years and will start his 12 season as a professional with Française des Jeux. At Marc Madiot's second division French team, he will be one of the captains with Sandy Casar.
"I like him," said Madiot, "he speaks up, participates in the group, he asserts himself. He can be a team leader."
Fédrigo signed a two-year contract with Madiot that will take him through 2012. He started as a professional in 2000 with Crédit Agricole and joined Bouygues Telecom in 2005.
With Bouygues Telecom, he won three stages at the Tour de France: one in 2006 in Gap, one last year in Tarbes and this year in Pau.
"He does not take note of the kilometres or hours that he trains. When he performs well, he does not know how he did it," said Française des Jeux coach, Frédéric Grappe.
"When he starts in a race, he does not know if he is good or not. It is only 40 kilometres from the finish, seeing the faces of his rivals, when he knows that he can win. He gauges his form in relation to others.
"Fédrigo is a kind of nebula. He is an unknown. We don't want to break his model, but if he agrees, to inject small doses of methodology."
Fédrigo wants to win a week-long stage raced, like Paris-Nice, or one of the Ardennes Classics. He is willing to give his madness some methodology to achieve the results.
"Some things I will not agree with because we are not machines," added Fédrigo, "but there is no harm in trying something different."