Groupama–FDJ

Team information
UCI code	GFC
Registered	France
Founded	1997 (1997)
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles	Lapierre
Components	Shimano
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Marc 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

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.

History

Cyril Saugrain in FDJ jersey in 1999

Philippe Gilbert riding for FDJ at the 2006 Tour de France

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 9 January 2024.^[10]

Rider Date of birth  Lewis Askey (GBR) (2001-05-04) 4 May 2001  Cyril Barthe (FRA) (1996-02-14) 14 February 1996  Sven Erik Bystrøm (NOR) (1992-01-21) 21 January 1992  Clément Davy (FRA) (1998-07-17) 17 July 1998  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  Olivier Le Gac (FRA) (1993-08-27) 27 August 1993  Eddy Le Huitouze (FRA) (2003-04-03) 3 April 2003  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  Laurence Pithie (NZL) (2002-07-17) 17 July 2002  Rémy Rochas (FRA) (1996-05-18) 18 May 1996  Clément Russo (FRA) (1995-01-20) 20 January 1995  Marc Sarreau (FRA) (1993-06-10) 10 June 1993  Reuben Thompson (NZL) (2001-02-15) 15 February 2001  Lars van den Berg (NED) (1998-07-07) 7 July 1998  Matthew Walls (GBR) (1998-04-20) 20 April 1998  Samuel Watson (GBR) (2001-09-24) 24 September 2001

Major wins

Continental & National champions

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FDJ cycling team.

• Official website