Groupama–FDJ United () 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

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 as well as the expanding team and the already established 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 () and the Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible (MPCC; ).

Team roster

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

References

External links