An adventurer at heart, Lilian Calmejane was destined to make the French proud, but things turned out differently

The 2024 cycling year is well and truly over, so it is time to look at the past and the future. We do that with team reviews and interviews on team days, and we shine the spotlight one last time on the riders who will not return in 2025: the retired riders. Today, Lilian Calmejane, who retired from professional cycling at the age of 31, leaves behind some special memories in the peloton.

Until 2017, the climb was unknown; it was The Montée de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes. The Tour de France doesn't get to this part of the Jura, near Switzerland, that often. The Station des Rousses is the arrival point of the eighth stage, a fiercely contested stage for all-rounders, with many men who may well cycle their names into the history books today. It seems Lilian Calmejane is going to succeed—until the cramp hits.

There have been many riders of the Calmejane type in recent French cycling. All-rounders and adventurers are blessed a few times a year with a set of super legs. Name a list. Sylvain Chavanel, Sandy Casar, Blel Kadri, Thomas Voeckler of course. They all won a stage in the Tour or some other big race, which you can still wander back to from time to time as a fanatic just because the victory was often beautiful, too.

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Lilian Calmejane in action on behalf of AG2R Citroën, one of the French teams he rode for.

Calmejane showed fireworks early in his career: stages in the Tour and the Vuelta

In 2014 and 2015, when Calmejane was in his early twenties, he rode for a small team at club level: Vendée U. At the time, no one could have guessed what the guy from the often sunny Albi had to offer. He rode well those years in races every cycling fan has heard of. Loir-et-Cher, Flèche du Sud, Tour Alsace, Triptyque du Monts et Chateaux. That last multi-day, he won. It turns out to be the beginning of the leap many a semi-pro in France must hope for.

The somewhat shattered Direct Energies, the successor to Europcar, sees these results as a reason to attract Calmejane. It turns out to be a golden opportunity. In 2016, the Calmejanes of a generation earlier, Voeckler and Chavanal, are running on their last legs. Stage contender and GC man Pierre Rolland has left. French cycling needs fresh blood. Calmejane is making his debut in the Vuelta, having had a strong season in French races.

The fourth stage of that tour is typically Calmejane terrain. Anything but flat, not selective enough for the biggest climbers, and thus a day when so many men can win again. The uphill finish suits the then 23-year-old Frenchman perfectly. He soloed from the early breakaway, which was given space for the day, totally unexpectedly, as a great unknown, to his, as it turned out later, second biggest win ever. He defeats other adventurers, such as Darwin Atapuma and Andrey Zeits. The world suddenly knows who Lilian Calmejane is.

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Robert Gesink will still sometimes wake up to memories of Calmejane

Calmejane's achievement list snowballed in the seasons following the Vuelta stage victory and, a few years later, reads like the menu a French rider can be proud of. The one-day races in the Drome and Ardèche, the body weight of cheese as a prize after a win in Paris-Camembert, final and stage victories in the Pays de la Loire, the Star of Bessèges. To top it off, he also won the Coppi and Bartali cycling week, a prestigious race in Italy. The mountain classification in Paris-Nice fits his profile perfectly. This boy could become significant and maybe even venture into the GCs.

That impression was confirmed on that day in July 2017 in the Jura. Back to that mountain with the long name, back to the breakaway with Robert Gesink. Like Calmejane, he attacks first, and no one can follow him. Right? Only Gesink does not give in; the Dutch rider continues to chase the Frenchman until he can almost study the veins on the calves of the Direct-Energie rider. And then, just at that moment, Calmejane picks up the pace. Gone is the man who makes Voeckler and Chavanel forget.

It turns out to be the decisive move, even though Calmejane suddenly comes to a halt on the plateau toward the finish. The leader has cramps. Herbert Dijkstra goes crazy in the NOS commentary booth as he sees opportunities for Gesink. Colleague Maarten Ducrot secretly hopes the best man wins because that's how it should be. And the best man of the day, Calmejane, does win. With a cramped face and a tortured body, he crosses the finish line in the small ski village. Gesink is left slightly satisfied with second place. Because that is how good the world thinks Calmejane is at that moment. Candidate for the polka dot jersey, destined to become the new stage contender.

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Calmejane let some of his strength behind in the Jura and couldn't catch up with a new generation of energetic top riders

In the years since it seems Calmejane has left all his strength in the Jura. He no longer makes a big impression. He remains far removed from his exploits of 2016 and 2017. Victories in French races are turning into podium spots scattered around the European circuit. Above all, the strength of the team as a whole prevents Calmejane from advancing and joining the sub-top. Many anonymous performances in smaller tours followed; he still got fourth or sixth in leading groups of stages, but victories remained out of reach.

The coronavirus years of 2020 and 2021 involved an unsuccessful quest to connect with a new, energetic cycling generation. Calmejane then changed teams, moving to AG2R Citroën and finally to Intermarché-Wanty. There, his status did not change. In 2024, he was allowed to ride several more days in the Giro's blue mountain jersey after a magnificent opening weekend around Turin. It was the last dance for Calmejane for the general public.  

Later this year, he came out with the message that he was retiring—a surprise, perhaps, at 31. But for himself, it was mainly a point behind a confusing period without much success. "For some years, I've felt a little cramped and less fulfilled. I'm no longer satisfied with my results and performances. I am authentic and uncompromising. I'm happy and relieved to close this chapter, and I can't wait to start the next one," he said then about his cycling retirement.

Often, Lilian Calmejane came out on top in stages, and it seemed anyone could win. For a while, he was one of the first people to write down a favorite in those days. Until that happened less and less often, and the glory days of the sympathetic, tall Frenchman, with the instinct for the breakaway, ended.

All the best to you, Lilian!

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