Groupama–FDJ

Groupama–FDJ[2] (UCI team code: GFC) is a French cycling team at UCI WorldTeam level. The team is managed by Marc Madiot, a former road bicycle racer and winner of the Paris–Roubaix classic in 1985 and 1991. The team is predominantly French.

Groupama–FDJ
Team information
UCI codeGFC
RegisteredFrance
Founded1997 (1997)
Discipline(s)Road
StatusUCI WorldTeam
BicyclesLapierre
ComponentsShimano
WebsiteTeam home page
Key personnel
General managerMarc Madiot
Team name history
1997–2002 La Française des Jeux
2003–2004 FDJeux.com
2005–2010[N 1] La Française des Jeux
2010–2011[N 2] FDJ
2012 FDJ–BigMat
2013[N 3] FDJ
2013–2014[N 4] FDJ.fr
2015–2018 FDJ[1]
2018– Groupama–FDJ

History

Cyril Saugrain in FDJ jersey in 1999
Thibaut Pinot (right) and Sébastien Reichenbach (left) for FDJ at the 2018 Giro d'Italia
FDJ team car in 2007

The team was founded on the initiative of Marc Madiot after he retired from racing in 1994 following a leg-breaking crash in that year's edition of Paris–Roubaix. After a period in the mid-1990s when the professional cycling scene in France was contracting – resulting in the 1996 French National Road Race Championships elite race being held on a pro–am basis due to the reduced number of professional riders – by the time of the team's launch in 1997 they faced competition for riders in France from fellow newcomers Cofidis as well as the expanding Casino team and the already established GAN outfit.[3]

The team's initial lineup included younger French riders such as teenagers Nicolas Vogondy and Damien Nazon as well as more experienced foreign racers like Davide Rebellin, Mauro Gianetti, Max Sciandri and Andrea Peron. The inaugural squad also included the reigning French national champions in road racing, time trialling and cyclo-cross – Stéphane Heulot, Eddy Seigneur and Christophe Mengin respectively.[3]

In their first season the team only took a total of 13 wins and won the UCI Road World Cup – however these included several high-profile victories such as Frédéric Guesdon's triumph at Paris–Roubaix, a stage win for Mengin at the Tour de France and victories for Rebellin at the Clásica de San Sebastián and Züri-Metzgete.[3]

In the 2003 edition of Tour de France, Australian individual time trial specialist Bradley McGee won the prologue stage to wear the yellow jersey for a few days. McGee was also able to win the prologue of the following year's Giro d'Italia, wore the pink jersey for three days and finished the race in the top ten (finishing eighth). Sprinter Baden Cooke won the green jersey for the points competition.

On 31 October 2012, it emerged that BigMat would no longer sponsor the team, with the team choosing to focus on finding another co-sponsor for the 2014 season.[4]

Sponsorship

The team has been sponsored by Française des Jeux – the operator of France's national lottery – since its founding in 1997. Française des Jeux owns a majority of shares in the team, and the team is based in a warehouse owned by Française des Jeux on the outskirts of Paris: according to Madiot the team and the sponsor have a close working relationship.[3]

The team was named FDJeux.com in 2003 and 2004, then renamed Française des Jeux, supposedly to avoid bad luck, until July 2010, when the name was simplified to its initials. Prior to the 2012 season, French building merchants BigMat joined the team as co-sponsors, becoming FDJ–BigMat, contributing €2 million to the team.[5][6]

Following the departure of BigMat, the team renamed itself FDJ.fr. At the end of 2017, the team announced that they secured a sponsorship deal with French insurance group Groupama for the 2018 season, becoming Groupama–FDJ, contributing investment that increased the team's budget from €16 million to €20 million for next season.[7]

Doping

In February 2019, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung broke news that a number of professional cyclists had been implicated in the doping scandal uncovered at the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Georg Preidler confessed to having his blood extracted for a possible transfusion. On 3 March, Preidler confessed to Austrian police, whilst also terminating his contract with the team via email. Preidler was due to race during the previous weekend, later admitting to having his blood drawn on two occasions late in 2018. The team then contacted the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the French Anti-Doping Agency (French: Agence française de lutte contre le dopage) and the Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible (MPCC; English: Movement for Credible Cycling).[8][9]

Team roster

As of 2 August 2023.[10][11]
Rider Date of birth
 Bruno Armirail (FRA) (1994-04-11) 11 April 1994
 Lewis Askey (GBR) (2001-05-04) 4 May 2001
 Clément Davy (FRA) (1998-07-17) 17 July 1998
 Arnaud Démare[lower-alpha 1] (FRA) (1991-08-26) 26 August 1991
 David Gaudu (FRA) (1996-10-10) 10 October 1996
 Kévin Geniets (LUX) (1997-01-09) 9 January 1997
 Lorenzo Germani (ITA) (2002-03-03) 3 March 2002
 Romain Grégoire (FRA) (2003-01-21) 21 January 2003
 Ignatas Konovalovas (LIT) (1985-12-08) 8 December 1985
 Stefan Küng (SUI) (1993-11-16) 16 November 1993
 Mathieu Ladagnous (FRA) (1984-12-12) 12 December 1984
 Olivier Le Gac (FRA) (1993-08-27) 27 August 1993
 Fabian Lienhard (SUI) (1993-09-03) 3 September 1993
 Valentin Madouas (FRA) (1996-07-12) 12 July 1996
Rider Date of birth
 Lenny Martinez (FRA) (2003-07-11) 11 July 2003
 Rudy Molard (FRA) (1989-09-17) 17 September 1989
 Quentin Pacher (FRA) (1992-01-06) 6 January 1992
 Enzo Paleni (FRA) (2002-05-30) 30 May 2002
 Paul Penhoët (FRA) (2001-12-28) 28 December 2001
 Thibaut Pinot (FRA) (1990-05-29) 29 May 1990
 Laurence Pithie (NZL) (2002-07-17) 17 July 2002
 Miles Scotson (AUS) (1994-01-18) 18 January 1994
 Jake Stewart (GBR) (1999-10-02) 2 October 1999
 Michael Storer (AUS) (1997-02-28) 28 February 1997
 Reuben Thompson (NZL) (2001-02-15) 15 February 2001
 Lars van den Berg (NED) (1998-07-07) 7 July 1998
 Samuel Watson (GBR) (2001-09-24) 24 September 2001
 Bram Welten (NED) (1997-03-29) 29 March 1997
  1. Left on 31 July

Major wins

Continental & National champions

1998
French Cyclo-cross Christophe Mengin
2002
French Road Race Nicolas Vogondy
2004
Australian Road Race Matthew Wilson
Swedish Time Trial Thomas Löfkvist
French Track (Individual pursuit) Nicolas Vogondy
2005
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
French Track (Team pursuit) Nicolas Vogondy
2006
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
Finnish Cyclo-cross Jussi Veikkanen
Swedish Time Trial Gustav Larsson
Swedish Road Race Thomas Löfkvist
French Track (Team pursuit) Mathieu Ladagnous
French Track (Team pursuit) Mickaël Delage
2007
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
French Time Trial Benoît Vaugrenard
2008
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
Belarusian Road Race Yauheni Hutarovich
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
2009
Belarusian Road Race Yauheni Hutarovich
2010
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
2011
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
French Track (Individual pursuit) Mathieu Ladagnous
U23 World Road Race, Arnaud Démare
2012
Belarusian Road Race Yauheni Hutarovich
French Road Race Nacer Bouhanni
2013
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
French Road Race Arthur Vichot
2014
Finnish Road Race Jussi Veikkanen
French Cyclo-cross Francis Mourey
French Road Race Arnaud Démare
2016
French Road Race Arthur Vichot
French Time Trial Thibaut Pinot
Lithuanian Time Trial Ignatas Konovalovas
2017
Swedish Time Trial Tobias Ludvigsson
Lithuanian Time Trial Ignatas Konovalovas
French Road Race Arnaud Démare
Lithuanian Road Race Ignatas Konovalovas
2018
Swedish Time Trial Tobias Ludvigsson
Canadian Road Race Antoine Duchesne
Austrian Time Trial Georg Preidler
Swiss Road Race Steve Morabito
French Road Race Anthony Roux
French U23 Time Trial Alexys Brunel
2019
Swiss Time Trial Stefan Küng
French Time Trial Benjamin Thomas
Luxembourg U23 Time Trial Kevin Geniets
Swiss Road Race Sébastien Reichenbach
Swedish Time Trial Tobias Ludvigsson
European Track (Omnium) Benjamin Thomas
2020
Swiss Time Trial Stefan Küng
French Road Race Arnaud Démare
Luxembourg Road Race Kevin Geniets
European Time Trial Stefan Küng
Swiss Road Race Stefan Küng
2021
Swiss Time Trial Stefan Küng
French Time Trial Benjamin Thomas
Luxembourg Time Trial Kevin Geniets
Luxembourg Road Race Kevin Geniets
Lithuanian Road Race Ignatas Konovalovas
European Time Trial Stefan Küng
2022
French Time Trial Bruno Armirail
Hungarian Road Race Attila Valter

Notes

  1. 2005–June 2010
  2. July 2010–2011
  3. Jan–June 2013
  4. June 2013–2014

References

  1. Stephen Farrand (21 November 2014). "FDJ reveal new 2015 team colours". Cyclingnews.com.
  2. "Communiqué de Presse" [Press communication]. FDJ.fr (in French). Société de Gestion de L'Echappée. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  3. Quénet, Jean-François (2 March 2017). "20 years of FDJ: Marc Madiot looks back on the 'fairy tale'". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  4. "BigMat pulls out of FDJ as co-sponsor". Cycling News. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  5. Atkins, Ben (23 November 2011). "BigMat joins FDJ as name sponsor in 2012". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  6. "BigMat joins FDJ as co-sponsor in 2012". Cycling News. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  7. Robertshaw, Henry (6 December 2017). "FDJ team to become Groupama-FDJ in 2018 season, with big budget increase". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  8. "Preidler admits to blood extraction as doping investigation widens". Cyclingnews.com. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. "Madiot expresses 'surprise' and 'enormous disappointment' at Preidler doping confession". Cyclingnews.com. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  10. "Groupama – FDJ". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  11. Ryan, Barry (1 August 2023). "Arnaud Demare joins Arkea-Samsic from Groupama-FDJ with immediate effect". cyclingnews.com. Cycling News. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
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