# Crédit Agricole (cycling team)

Crédit Agricole (UCI team code: C.A) was a French professional cycling team managed by Roger Legeay. From 1998 to 2008, the team was sponsored by the French bank Crédit Agricole. Prior to 1997, the team was known as Vêtements Z–Peugeot (1987), Z–Peugeot (1988–89), Z (1990–92) and GAN (1993–98). In 1990, the team's leading cyclist, the American Greg LeMond, won the Tour de France. The team also won the team title at the Tour de France that year. Crédit Agricole announced that they would cease to sponsor the team after 2008, and the team was subsequently disbanded.

## History

The team was born out of the Peugeot cycling team, which existed from the early 1900s to 1986. Roger Legeay was the Peugeot team's last manager, and he created Vêtements Z–Peugeot in 1987 (taking its name from the children's clothing brand Z and the car manufacturer Peugeot). That year, the team made its appearance at the Tour de France, with Frenchman Pascal Simon as its leading cyclist.
In 1988, under the name of Z–Peugeot, the team achieved its first stage win at the Tour de France when Jérôme Simon (Pascal Simon's brother) won stage 9 of the tour. The team's second stage win came in 1989, when the Scottish rider Robert Millar took a mountain stage.
In 1990, the Tour's defending champion, Greg LeMond, moved to the team, which had been renamed Z. Riding for the team, LeMond won his third Tour title that year, coming in 2 minutes and 16 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider, the Italian Claudio Chiappucci. LeMond credited strong team support and tactics for his third Tour victory. And the team also won the team title at the year's Tour, coming in just 16 seconds ahead of the ONCE cycling team (the closest margin for the team classification in the Tour's history).
In 1991, with the team renamed simply Z, LeMond wore the yellow jersey for five stages in the earlier part of the Tour, but faded as the event progressed and eventually finished in seventh place, 13 minutes behind the new champion, the Spanish rider Miguel Induráin.
In 1992, LeMond struggled and eventually abandoned the Tour on the 14th stage. However the team picked up one stage win that year, with Jean-Claude Colotti winning stage 17.
In 1993, the team was renamed GAN. LeMond did not ride in the 1993 Tour. He returned in 1994, but withdrew after six stages.
Just prior to LeMond's departure the team acquired the British track cyclist Chris Boardman, a time trial specialist. Riding for the team, Boardman won the Prologue of the Tour de France in 1994, 1997 and 1998.
The team also acquired a young Australian track rider, Stuart O'Grady, in the mid-1990s. He won several Tour stages and nearly won the points classification in the 2000 Tour de France. O'Grady held on to the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for many days during that same tour.
The team was renamed Crédit Agricole in 1998.
German rider Jens Voigt joined the team until the 2003 season, winning a Tour stage and spending a day in the yellow jersey in 2001.
The 2000 and 2001 seasons saw Americans Bobby Julich and Jonathan Vaughters in the team, making it the team with the most English speakers. The team also won the 2001 Tour de France team time trial in front of the ONCE and U.S. Postal teams. Julich and Vaughters left after one and two seasons respectively.
The 2003 season saw the emergence of Thor Hushovd of Norway as the main sprinter of the team. At the end of 2003 O'Grady and Voigt left for Cofidis and Team CSC respectively.
2005 was successful for the team. Pietro Caucchioli finished in the top ten of the Giro d'Italia and Christophe Le Mével took a breakaway stage win. In the 2005 Tour de France Christophe Moreau was the highest-placed French rider (11th) and Thor Hushovd secured the green jersey points classification.
In 2006, Crédit Agricole captured the team classification at the Tour de Pologne. Hushovd took stage wins and two days in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, won the Gent–Wevelgem classic, and a stage win and the points classification at the Vuelta a España.
From 2005 to 2008, the team was one of the 20 which competed in the UCI ProTour.
The team disbanded at the end of the 2008 season when Crédit Agricole ended their sponsorship.

## Major wins
### 1988

    Overall Route du Sud, Ronan Pensec
    GP de la Ville de Rennes, Ronan Pensec
    Stage 9 Tour de France, Jérôme Simon

### 1989

    Grand Prix du Midi Libre, Jérôme Simon
    Overall Route du Sud, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    Stage 4 Paris–Nice, Bruno Cornillet
    Stage 4 Tour de Romandie, Robert Millar
    Stage 6b Critérium du Dauphiné, Robert Millar
    Stage 10 Tour de France, Robert Millar

### 1990

    Cholet – Pays de Loire, Kim Andersen
    Tour de Vendée, François Lemarchand
    Stage 4 Tour de Romandie, Robert Millar
    Stages 11 & 14 Giro d'Italia, Éric Boyer
    Overall Critérium du Dauphiné, Robert Millar
    Stage 11 Tour de Suisse, Kim Andersen
    Overall Tour de France, Greg LeMond

### 1991

    A Travers le Morbihan, Bruno Cornillet
    Route Adélie, Jérôme Simon
    Grand Prix du Midi Libre, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    Circuit Cycliste Sarthe
    Overall, Bruno Cornillet
    Overall Tour du Poitou Charentes, Kim Andersen
    GP de la Ville de Rennes, Kim Andersen
    Trophée des Grimpeurs, Atle Kvålsvoll
    Giro d'Italia
       Stage 1, Philippe Casado
       Stage 4, Éric Boyer
    Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan, Bruno Cornillet
    Stage 5 Tour de Suisse, Robert Millar

### 1992

    Overall Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, Pascal Lance
    Overall Tour du Limousin, Éric Boyer
    Paris–Roubaix, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    Overall Tour de Vendée, Bruno Cornillet
    Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Éric Boyer
    Stage 17 Tour de France, Jean-Claude Colotti

### 1993

    GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Didier Rous
    Overall Route du Sud, Éric Boyer
    Overall Tour du Haut Var, Thierry Claveyrolat
    GP de la Ville de Rennes, Eddy Seigneur
    Paris–Roubaix, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    Trophée des Grimpeurs, Thierry Claveyrolat
    Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    GP Ouest France-Plouay, Thierry Claveyrolat
    Paris-Bruxelles, Francis Moreau

### 1994

    Prologue & Stages 3 & 7 Critérium du Dauphiné, Chris Boardman
    Stage 6 Tour de Suisse, Chris Boardman
    Prologue Tour de France, Chris Boardman
    Stage 21, Eddy Seigneur
    Chrono des Nations, Pascal Lance
    Overall 4 Days of Dunkirk, Eddy Seigneur
    World Time Trial Championships, Chris Boardman

### 1995

    Stage 2 Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
    Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné, Chris Boardman
    Chrono des Nations, Pascal Lance
    A Travers le Morbihan, Francis Moreau
    Overall Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, Nicolas Aubier
    Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan, Francis Moreau

### 1996

    Stage 4 Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana, Didier Rous
    Overall Critérium International, Chris Boardman
    Chrono des Nations, Chris Boardman
    Overall Tour de Picardie, Philippe Gaumont
    GP Eddy Merckx, Chris Boardman
    La Côte Picarde, Philippe Gaumont
    Overall 4 Days of Dunkirk, Philippe Gaumont
    Overall Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, Eddy Seigneur
    Paris–Nice
       Stage 1, Frédéric Moncassin
       Stage 8b, Chris Boardman
    Cholet – Pays de Loire, Stéphane Heulot
    Overall Tour de Vendée, Laurent Desbiens
    Trophée des Grimpeurs, Stéphane Heulot
    Critérium du Dauphiné,
       Prologue, Chris Boardman
       Stage 2, François Simon
       Stages 1 & 19 Tour de France, Frédéric Moncassin
    Grand Prix des Nations, Chris Boardman

### 1997

    Stage 5b Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana, Chris Boardman
    Prologue & Stage 6 Tour de Romandie, Chris Boardman
    Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné, Chris Boardman
    Stages 1b & 5 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Chris Boardman
    Tour de France
       Prologue, Chris Boardman
       Stage 5, Cédric Vasseur
    Stage 7 Vuelta a España, Yvon Ledanois

### 1998

    Stage 5a Tour of the Basque Country, Jens Voigt
    Prologue & Stage 4 Critérium du Dauphiné, Chris Boardman
    Stages 1b & 5 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Chris Boardman
    Tour de France
       Prologue, Chris Boardman
       Stage 14, Stuart O'Grady
       Stage 19, Magnus Bäckstedt

### 1999

    Critérium International
       Overall, Jens Voigt
       Stage 3, Chris Boardman
    Overall Tour Down Under, Stuart O'Grady
       Stages 3 & 5, Stuart O'Grady
    Stage 1 Paris–Nice, Chris Boardman
    Classic Haribo, Stuart O'Grady
    Joseph Vögeli Memorial, Chris Boardman
    Breitling GP, Jens Voigt and Chris Boardman
    Duo Normand, Jens Voigt and Chris Boardman
    Tour du Loir-et-Cher, Thor Hushovd
    Overall Tour of Norway, Thor Hushovd
    Annemasse-Bellegarde et retour, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 5 Tour of Sweden, Thor Hushovd

### 2000

    Overall Bayern Rundfahrt, Jens Voigt
    Cholet-Pays de Loire, Jens Voigt
    Tour du Finistère
    Overall, Sébastien Hinault
    Melbourne to Sorrento, Stuart O'Grady
    Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné, Fabrice Gougot

### 2001

    Tour de France
       Stage 5 TTT
       Stage 16, Jens Voigt
    Overall Tour Down Under, Stuart O'Grady
    Grand Prix des Nations, Jens Voigt
    Paris–Corrèze, Thor Hushovd
    Overall Bayern Rundfahrt, Jens Voigt
       Stage 2, Jens Voigt
    Overall Tour of Sweden, Thor Hushovd
       Stages 1a & 3, Thor Hushovd
    Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Jens Voigt
    Tour de Normandie, Thor Hushovd
    Tour of Wellington, Christopher Jenner
    Duo Normand, Jens Voigt and Jonathan Vaughters
    Stage 4 Critérium du Dauphiné, Jonathan Vaughters
    Stage 6 Tour de Pologne, Jens Voigt
    Profronde van Oostvoorne, Stuart O'Grady
    Gouden Pijl Emmen, Stuart O'Grady
    Ronde de l´Isard d´Ariège, Christophe Le Mével

### 2002

    Stage 18 Tour de France, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 3 Critérium International, Jens Voigt
    Stage 4 Four Days of Dunkirk, Christophe Moreau
    Stage 2 Tour de l'Ain, Thor Hushovd
    Boucles de l´Aulne – GP Le Télégramme, Christopher Jenner

### 2003

    Stages 6 & 8 Tour de Langkawi, Stuart O'Grady
    Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste – Trophée des Granitiers, Dmitriy Muravyev
    Overall 4 Days of Dunkirk, Christophe Moreau
       Stages 4 & 5, Christophe Moreau
    Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne
    Overall, Jens Voigt
    Stage 4, Jens Voigt
    GP Jef Scherens Leuven, Thor Hushovd
    Paris–Bourges, Jens Voigt
    Stage 4 Tour de Pologne, Sébastien Hinault

### 2004

    Sachsen-Tour International, Andrey Kashechkin
    Flèche Ardennaise, Jeremy Yates
    Stage 3 Étoile de Bessèges, Thor Hushovd
    Classic Haribo, Thor Hushovd
    GP de Denain Porte du Hainaut, Thor Hushovd
    Tour de Vendée, Thor Hushovd
    Trophée des Grimpeurs – Polymultipliée, Christophe Moreau
    Stage 4 Deutschland Tour, Sébastien Hinault
    Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 8 Tour de France, Thor Hushovd
    Overall Tour du Limousin, Pierrick Fedrigo
       Stage 2, Pierrick Fedrigo
    GP de Fourmies / La Voix du Nord, Andrey Kashechkin

### 2005

    Stage 3 Circuit Cycliste Sarthe – Pays de la Loire, Damien Nazon
    La Côte Picarde, Jean Marc Marino
    Stage 2 Circuit de Lorraine Professionnels, Bradley Wiggins
    Stage 1 4 Days of Dunkirk, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 4 Tour de Picardie, Damien Nazon
    Stage 7 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Damien Nazon
    Stage 16 Giro d'Italia, Christophe Le Mével
    Overall Tour de Luxembourg, László Bodrogi
    Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné, Thor Hushovd
    Route du Sud
       Stage 1, Nicolas Vogondy
       Stage 4, Patrice Halgand
    Points classification Tour de France, Thor Hushovd
    Overall Tour du Limousin, Sébastien Joly
       Stage 1, Sébastien Joly
       Stage 4, Thor Hushovld
    Stage 3 Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Stage 5 Vuelta a España, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 8 Tour de l´Avenir, Bradley Wiggins
    Stage 3 Tour de Pologne, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Stage 2 Circuit Franco-Belge, Sébastien Hinault

### 2006

    Stage 5 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Mark Renshaw
    Stages 2 & 5 Étoile de Bessèges, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Tour de Langkawi
       Stage 3, Saul Raisin
       Stage 8, Sébastien Hinault
    Stage 4 Tirreno – Adriatico, Thor Hushovd
    Gent–Wevelgem, Thor Hushovd
    Tro-Bro Léon, Mark Renshaw
    Stage 4 Tour de Picardie, Sébastien Hinault
    Stage 7 Critérium du Dauphiné, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 4 Route du Sud, Patrice Halgand
    Prologue & Stage 20 Tour de France, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 6 Tour of Austria, László Bodrogi
    Stage 4 Tour de l´Ain, Patrice Halgand
    Prix d Armorique, Pierre Rolland
    Tour du Limousin
    Stage 4, Sébastien Hinault
    Châteauroux Classic de l´Indre Trophée Fenioux, Nicolas Vogondy
    Stage 5 Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, Nicolas Vogondy
    Vuelta a España
       Points classification, Thor Hushovd
       Stage 6 Thor Hushovd
    Volta a Catalunya
       Points Classification, Thor Hushovd
       Stage 3 Thor Hushovd

### 2007

    Overall Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Mark Renshaw
       Prologue, Mark Renshaw
    Down Under Classic, Mark Renshaw
    La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimba
       Prologue, Jimmy Engoulvent
       Stage 1, Pierre Roland
       Stage 3, Sébastien Hinault
    Overall Tour de Langkawi, Anthony Charteau
    Stage 3, Anthony Charteau
    Stage 1 Étoile de Bessèges, Angelo Furlan
    Route Adélie, Rémi Pauriol
    Stage 1 Circuit Cycliste Sarthe, Angelo Furlan
    Stage 2 Tour de Picardie, Mark Renshaw
    Stage 4 Ronde de l´Isard d´Ariège, Ignatas Konovalovas
    Prologue Tour de Luxembourg, Jimmy Engoulvent
    Tour de France
       Stage 4, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 4 Tour de la Wallonne, Rémi Pauriol
    Stage 4 Tour de l´Ain, Patrice Halgand
    Stage 2 Tour du Limousin, Pierre Roland
    Chrono des Nations, László Bodrogi

### 2008

    Overall Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Mark Renshaw
       Stage 3, Mark Renshaw
    Stage 1 Tour Down Under, Mark Renshaw
    Stage 4 Étoile de Bessèges, Angelo Furlan
    Stage 2 Tour de Langkawi, Jeremy Hunt
    Overall Tour Méditerranéen, Alexander Bocharov
       Stage 1, Thor Hushovd
       Stage 3, Alexander Bocharov
    Prologue Paris–Nice, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 4 Tour ivoirien de la Paix, Jimmy Engoulvent
    Stage 2 Volta ao Distrito de Santarém, Angelo Furlan
    Stage 2 Critérium International, Simon Gerrans
    Stage 6 4 Days of Dunkirk, Thor Hushovd
    Volta a Catalunya
       Points Classification, Thor Hushovd
       Prologue, Thor Hushovd
       Stage 1, Thor Hushovd
    Stage 1 Circuit de Lorraine Professionnels, Jonathan Hivert
    Stage 2 Tour de Luxembourg, Ignatas Konovalovas
    Stage 7 Critérium du Dauphiné, Dmitriy Fofonov
    Stage 1 Route du Sud, Simon Gerrans
    Tour de France
       Stage 2, Thor Hushovd
       Stage 15, Simon Gerrans
    Stage 5 Tour de la Wallonne, Patrice Halgand
    Overall Tour du Limousin, Sébastien Hinault
       Stage 1, Nicolas Roche
       Stage 3, Sébastien Hinault
    Stage 10 Vuelta a España, Sébastien Hinault
    Stage 3 Tour de Pologne, Angelo Furlan
    Grand Prix de la Somme, William Bonnet
    GP d´Isbergues, William Bonnet
    Stage 2 Circuit Franco-Belge, Mark Renshaw

## National champions
### 1994

    World Time Trial Championships, Chris Boardman

### 1995

    French Road Race Championships, Eddy Seigneur

### 1996

    French Road Race Championships, Stéphane Heulot
    French Time Trial Championships, Eddy Seigneur

### 1997

    French Time Trial Championships, Francisque Teyssier

### 1999

    Australian Road Race Championships, Henk Vogels
    French Road Race Championships, François Simon

### 2002

    Norwegian Time Trial Championships, Thor Hushovd

### 2003

    Australian Road Race Championships, Stuart O'Grady

### 2004

    Norwegian Road Race Championships, Thor Hushovd
    Norwegian Time Trial Championships, Thor Hushovd

### 2005

    Norwegian Time Trial Championships, Thor Hushovd
    Kazakhstan Time Trial Championships, Dimitry Muravyev
    Estonia Road Race Championships, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Estonia Time Trial Championships, Jaan Kirsipuu

### 2006

    Estonia Time Trial Championships, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Hungary Time Trial Championships, László Bodrogi

### 2007

    New Zealand Road Race Championships, Julian Dean
    Hungary Time Trial Championships, László Bodrogi
    Ireland Time Trial Championships, Nicolas Roche

### 2008

    Lithuania Time Trial Championships, Ignatas Konovalovas