Cyrille Guimard is a French former professional racing cyclist who became famous as the directeur sportif for two famous French cyclists and Tour de France winners: Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon. As a professional rider he was the French national champion in 3 separate occasions in 3 different disciplines: road in 1967 for the amateur category, vitesse in 1970 and cyclo-cross in 1976. he won several stages of the Tour de France and the points classification of the Vuelta a España. He was a team leader on the Gitane-Campagnolo team - in which a young Bernard Hinault was often a roommate - when he took over the team's management in 1977. He convinced Hinault to stay on his team. A cyclist is a person who engages in cycling whether as a sport or rides a bicycle for recreation or transportation. ... The (Le) Tour de France (French for Tour of France), also simply known as Le Tour, is an epic long distance road bicycle racing competition for professionals held over three weeks in July in and around France. ... Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) is a French cyclist best known for his five victories in the Tour de France. ... Laurent Fignon (born August 12, 1960 in Paris) was a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France twice in 1983 and 1984, and missed winning it a third time, in 1989, by a very narrow margin. ... Cyclo-cross is a form of bicycle racing. ... The Vuelta a España bicycle race is one of the three Grand Tours of Europe and, after the Tour de France and the Giro dItalia, the third most important road cycling stage race in the world. ...

Guimard is known as a master tactician in a race, and innovator in training techniques. He is credited as one of the first cycling coaches to use the periodization method in the early 1980s. He is also known to have told his riders to hold back from entering certain races and competitions if he feels that they were not ready for the challenge yet. A famous example of this was Hinault's decision not to enter the 1977 edition of the Tour de France despite his impressive list of early season wins as a first-year professional (neo-pro), only to win strongly the following year. In his autobiography, Hinault credited Guimard with his uncanny tactical sense for many of his greatest wins, including the snowy Liège-Bastogne-Liège of 1980. This racing bicycle is built using lightweight, shaped aluminum tubing and carbon fiber stays and forks. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Liège-Bastogne-Liège, often called La Doyenne (the oldest woman), is one of the five Monuments of the European professional road cycling calendar, and the oldest. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

However, Guimard's strong personality also led to disagreements with his riders, most notably with Hinault in the mid-1980s. Hinault had to abandon the 1983 Tour de France due to his knee injury, and his lieutenant Fignon won the race. The following season he decided to switch to the newly-formed La Vie Claire cycling team. With Guimard, you do not argue, you can only listen, Hinault was known to say. Fignon was a young cyclist and was already closely associated with Guimard since his youth. With Hinault, Guimard already had a champion. With me, he made a champion. That is perhaps why we have a special bond, Fignon admitted in an interview.

Guimard was also involved in the early development of the French UCI ProTour team Cofidis, although he had no formal association. He is also closely associated with the frame maker Cyfac. His riders used to ride on Cyfac frames under the team sponsor's paint job. The UCI ProTour is a system of a set of professional cycling teams and cycling races, in which all of these teams are required to, and guaranteed to, participate. ... Cyfac is a manufacturer of road cycling racing frames based in La Fuye, France. ...