Groupama–FDJ

Groupama–FDJ
Team information
UCI code GFC
Registered France
Founded 1997 (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
Jersey
Lövkvist signing in at Tarbes during the 2006 Tour de France

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

Rider Date of birth
 Bruno Armirail (FRA) (1994-04-11) 11 April 1994
 William Bonnet (FRA) (1982-06-25) 25 June 1982
 Davide Cimolai (ITA) (1989-08-13) 13 August 1989
 Mickaël Delage (FRA) (1985-08-06) 6 August 1985
 Arnaud Démare (FRA) (1991-08-26) 26 August 1991
 Antoine Duchesne (CAN) (1991-09-12) 12 September 1991
 David Gaudu (FRA) (1996-10-10) 10 October 1996
 Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA) (1987-08-14) 14 August 1987
 Daniel Hoelgaard (NOR) (1993-07-01) 1 July 1993
 Ignatas Konovalovas (LIT) (1985-12-08) 8 December 1985
 Mathieu Ladagnous (FRA) (1984-12-12) 12 December 1984
 Olivier Le Gac (FRA) (1993-08-27) 27 August 1993
 Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE) (1991-02-22) 22 February 1991
 Valentin Madouas (FRA) (1996-07-12) 12 July 1996
Rider Date of birth
 Rudy Molard (FRA) (1989-09-17) 17 September 1989
 Steve Morabito (SUI) (1983-01-30) 30 January 1983
 Thibaut Pinot (FRA) (1990-05-29) 29 May 1990
 Georg Preidler (AUT) (1990-06-17) 17 June 1990
 Sébastien Reichenbach (SUI) (1989-05-28) 28 May 1989
 Anthony Roux (FRA) (1987-04-18) 18 April 1987
 Jérémy Roy (FRA) (1983-06-22) 22 June 1983
 Marc Sarreau (FRA) (1993-06-10) 10 June 1993
 Romain Seigle (FRA) (1994-10-11) 11 October 1994
 Ramon Sinkeldam (NED) (1989-02-09) 9 February 1989
 Benjamin Thomas (FRA) (1995-09-12) 12 September 1995
 Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA) (1982-01-05) 5 January 1982
 Arthur Vichot (FRA) (1988-11-26) 26 November 1988
 Léo Vincent (FRA) (1995-11-06) 6 November 1995

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

  1. ↑ Stephen Farrand. "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. 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.
  4. ↑ "BigMat pulls out of FDJ as co-sponsor". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 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. Future Publishing Limited. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  1. ↑ 2005–June 2010
  2. ↑ July 2010–2011
  3. ↑ Jan–June 2013
  4. ↑ June 2013–2014

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