Groupama–FDJ
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Team information | ||
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UCI code | GFC | |
Registered | France | |
Founded | 1997 | |
Discipline | Road | |
Status | UCI WorldTeam | |
Bicycles | Lapierre | |
Components | Shimano | |
Website | Team home page | |
Key personnel | ||
General manager | Marc Madiot | |
Team name history | ||
1997–2002 2003–2004 2005–2010[N 1] 2010–2011[N 2] 2012 2013[N 3] 2013–2014[N 4] 2015–2018 2018– |
La Française des Jeux FDJeux.com La Française des Jeux FDJ FDJ–BigMat FDJ FDJ.fr FDJ[1] Groupama–FDJ | |
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Groupama–FDJ[2] (UCI team code: GFC) is a French cycling team, named for its title sponsor, the French national lottery. The team is managed by Marc Madiot, a former road bicycle racer and a former winner of the Paris–Roubaix classic. The team is predominantly French.
History
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 - 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 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.
Team roster
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Major wins
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) Mickael 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 Demare - 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
References
- ↑ Stephen Farrand. "FDJ reveal new 2015 team colours". Cyclingnews.com.
- ↑ "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.
- 1 2 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.
- ↑ "BigMat pulls out of FDJ as co-sponsor". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- ↑ Atkins, Ben (23 November 2011). "BigMat joins FDJ as name sponsor in 2012". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ↑ "BigMat joins FDJ as co-sponsor in 2012". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to FDJ cycling team. |
- Official website (in French)
- Official Site (Française des Jeux)