Maxime Bouet

Maxime Bouet (born 3 November 1986) is a French former road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2023.

Career Early years Born in Belley, Ain, Bouet participated at the French national track and road championships as a junior in 2003. At the track championships he won the silver medal in the individual pursuit, while at the road championships he took the bronze medal at the individual time trial. In the following year (2004) he improved both results, winning the gold medal in the individual pursuit and the silver medal in the individual time trial. That same year, on 1 May he finished 19th in the under-23 version of Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He also reached the fourth position of the sixth stage in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, an individual time trial over where he finished 51 seconds behind winner Dan Martin.

Agritubel (2007–09) 2007 season During the 2007 cycling season Bouet signed a contract with as a stagiaire. His first notable result for them was when he reached the fourth place in the general classification of the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour. He then came third in the first three stages of the Bidasoa Itzulia, After gaining more experience in the Tour Méditerranéen (19th), the Tour du Haut Var (47th), the Les 3 Jours de Vaucluse (17th) and the Volta ao Distrito de Santarém (116th) he won his first professional race on 24 March during the first stage of the Tour de Normandie, a prologue in and around Mondeville. The six seconds he was ahead of Jos van Emden were enough to keep him in the leader's jersey for the next two days. He finished sixth in the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, 11th in the Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas and fourth in the Circuit de Lorraine. That same month he finished 19th in the Tour du Haut Var and also won his first race of the season, the first stage of the Les 3 Jours de Vaucluse, including the leading jersey. In the end, he finished in the second spot behind teammate David Lelay. Bouet competed in his first Paris–Nice race afterwards, finishing in 64th position overall. At the Volta ao Alentejo Bouet won another stage race opener and wore the leader's jersey for two days until Héctor Guerra won the individual time trial in stage 3. However, with a third place in the 5th and last stage of the race he reclaimed the lead and took the overall win, one second ahead of Guerra. After finishing third in the general classification of the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour Bouet focused on some of the classic races. He reached the finish of La Flèche Wallonne in 138th position, but did not finish Liège–Bastogne–Liège. A great result in the 20th stage from Montélimar to Mont Ventoux in which he finished in 17th place, Bouet ultimately secured a 69th overall ranking when finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris the day after. The 2009 season for Bouet ended in August after he finished third in the second stage of the Tour de l'Ain where he claimed the 11th spot overall. In the Gran Premio di Lugano he finished fourth in the same group as winner Roberto Ferrari, while in Paris–Nice he finished in 21st position overall. The next two months Bouet took part in a lot of one day classics like Milan–San Remo (152nd), Amstel Gold Race (88th), and La Flèche Wallonne (80th), but his best results were held in the GP Miguel Induráin (7th), the Circuit de Lorraine (9th) and the Boucles de l'Aulne (10th). In the sixth stage Bouet ended up in the breakaway group that got a huge gap ahead of the peloton. In the end Sérgio Paulinho took the win in that stage, running from Chambéry to Gap, with Bouet finishing in sixth place, three minutes and 20 seconds behind Paulinho, but still way ahead of the peloton that reached the finish line 14 minutes and 19 seconds later than Paulinho. In August that year he won the third stage of the Tour de l'Ain and came 11th overall. These results were followed by another eighth position in the Gran Premio dell'Insubria-Lugano, a 13th place in the Gran Premio di Lugano and a 60th place overall in Paris–Nice. In the Tour du Haut Var he finished in eighth position, while he finished 12th in the Gran Premio di Lugano.

Fortuneo–Vital Concept (2017–2023) In August 2016 Bouet announced that he was following team-mate Gianni Meersman to , joining the team with an initial two-year deal from 2017. The move reunited him with team manager Emmanuel Hubert, who signed him to his first professional contract when he was in charge of Agritubel. In his announcement he expressed a desire to race as a team leader with the French squad. With his new team he participated in the 2017 Tour de France, placing 55th in the general classification.

Bouet retired at the end of the 2023 season, after 16 seasons as a professional.

Major results

2003 2nd Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships 3rd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships 2004

2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships 2nd Classique des Alpes 2007 3rd Overall Ronde de l'Isard 4th Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 10th Paris–Mantes-en-Yvelines 2008 1st Stage 1 (ITT) Tour de Normandie 2nd Individual pursuit, National Track Championships 4th Overall Circuit de Lorraine 6th Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 2009

1st Stage 1 1st Boucles de l'Aulne 2nd Overall Les 3 Jours de Vaucluse 1st Stage 1 3rd Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour 7th 7th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 2010 1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Ain 4th Gran Premio di Lugano 7th GP Miguel Induráin 9th Overall Circuit de Lorraine 10th Boucles de l'Aulne 2011 3rd Tour de Vendée 4th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 5th Road race, National Road Championships 8th Overall Étoile de Bessèges 8th Gran Premio dell'Insubria-Lugano 2012 5th Overall Étoile de Bessèges 8th Overall Tour du Haut Var 2013 3rd Overall Giro del Trentino 1st Stage 1a 6th 7th Overall Critérium International 10th Overall Tour of Oman 2014 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 6th Gran Premio di Lugano 2015

2016 7th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana 9th Overall Tour du Haut Var 2017 2nd 6th Overall Tour de Savoie Mont-Blanc 7th Overall Tour de l'Ain 9th Overall Giro di Toscana 10th Overall Tour La Provence 2018 6th Overall Tour de Savoie Mont-Blanc 1st Stage 1 9th Overall Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine 2021 7th Overall Volta ao Algarve 2022 6th GP Industria & Artigianato 9th Overall Tour de la Provence

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish