François Lemarchand, 59, will come out of the shadows for at least a week after the provisional withdrawal from the Tour de France of Christian Prudhomme, declared positive for Covid-19.
He disputed ten Tours as a rider.
Professional racer from 1985 to 1997, he played in the Peugeot team which then became Z then Gan.
He has competed in ten Tours de France which he has all completed.
His best ranking is 59th place in 1993. “Casually, this experience is useful to me today in my work and that counts,” he believes.
He won the Tour as a teammate to Greg LeMond.
A model teammate, he rarely distinguished himself.
His record lists only five successes, including the Tour de Vendée in 1990. “The outstanding result of my career was a victory in the Tour de France in 1990 when I was a teammate with Greg LeMond,” he recalls.
When you parade on the Champs-Elysées with the yellow jersey, it's still something!
My career has been that of a teammate, but it takes!
"
He became a race organizer thanks to Laurent Fignon.
At the end of his career, Laurent Fignon enlisted him as a collaborator for his structure which will notably manage the Paris-Nice race.
Bought by ASO, he changed employer in 2002 and slowly climbed up the technical hierarchy, working alongside Thierry Gouvenou in particular.
On the Critérium du Dauphiné, he has been managing the race for several years.