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Groupama–FDJ

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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
FDJ (cycling team) logo.png
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
Current season
Lövkvist signing in at Tarbes during the 2006 Tour de France

HistoryEdit

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. 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]

SponsorshipEdit

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]

DopingEdit

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 rosterEdit

As of 10 January 2023.[10]
Rider Date of birth
  Bruno Armirail (FRA) (1994-04-11) 11 April 1994 (age 28)
  Lewis Askey (GBR) (2001-05-04) 4 May 2001 (age 21)
  Clément Davy (FRA) (1998-07-17) 17 July 1998 (age 24)
  Arnaud Démare (FRA) (1991-08-26) 26 August 1991 (age 31)
  David Gaudu (FRA) (1996-10-10) 10 October 1996 (age 26)
  Kévin Geniets (LUX) (1997-01-09) 9 January 1997 (age 26)
  Lorenzo Germani (ITA) (2002-03-03) 3 March 2002 (age 21)
  Romain Grégoire (FRA) (2003-01-21) 21 January 2003 (age 20)
  Ignatas Konovalovas (LIT) (1985-12-08) 8 December 1985 (age 37)
  Stefan Küng (SUI) (1993-11-16) 16 November 1993 (age 29)
  Mathieu Ladagnous (FRA) (1984-12-12) 12 December 1984 (age 38)
  Olivier Le Gac (FRA) (1993-08-27) 27 August 1993 (age 29)
  Fabian Lienhard (SUI) (1993-09-03) 3 September 1993 (age 29)
  Valentin Madouas (FRA) (1996-07-12) 12 July 1996 (age 26)
Rider Date of birth
  Lenny Martinez (FRA) (2003-07-11) 11 July 2003 (age 19)
  Rudy Molard (FRA) (1989-09-17) 17 September 1989 (age 33)
  Quentin Pacher (FRA) (1992-01-06) 6 January 1992 (age 31)
  Enzo Paleni (FRA) (2002-05-30) 30 May 2002 (age 20)
  Paul Penhoët (FRA) (2001-12-28) 28 December 2001 (age 21)
  Thibaut Pinot (FRA) (1990-05-29) 29 May 1990 (age 32)
  Laurence Pithie (NZL) (2002-07-17) 17 July 2002 (age 20)
  Miles Scotson (AUS) (1994-01-18) 18 January 1994 (age 29)
  Jake Stewart (GBR) (1999-10-02) 2 October 1999 (age 23)
  Michael Storer (AUS) (1997-02-28) 28 February 1997 (age 26)
  Reuben Thompson (NZL) (2001-02-15) 15 February 2001 (age 22)
  Lars van den Berg (NED) (1998-07-07) 7 July 1998 (age 24)
  Samuel Watson (GBR) (2001-09-24) 24 September 2001 (age 21)
  Bram Welten (NED) (1997-03-29) 29 March 1997 (age 25)

Major winsEdit

Main article: List of wins by La Française des Jeux and its successors

Continental & National championsEdit

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

NotesEdit

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

ReferencesEdit

  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. ^ a b c 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.

External linksEdit

 
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