# Groupama–FDJ

Groupama–FDJ (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

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.
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 (French: Agence française de lutte contre le dopage) and the Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible (MPCC; English: Movement for Credible Cycling).

## Team roster

    As of 5 January 2025.
| | Rider | Date of birth |
| Lewis Askey (GBR) | Lewis Askey (GBR) | (2001-05-04) 4 May 2001 (age 23) |
| Cyril Barthe (FRA) | Cyril Barthe (FRA) | (1996-02-14) 14 February 1996 (age 28) |
| Clément Braz Afonso (FRA) | Clément Braz Afonso (FRA) | (1999-11-08) 8 November 1999 (age 25) |
| Sven Erik Bystrøm (NOR) | Sven Erik Bystrøm (NOR) | (1992-01-21) 21 January 1992 (age 33) |
| Rémi Cavagna (FRA) | Rémi Cavagna (FRA) | (1995-08-10) 10 August 1995 (age 29) |
| Clément Davy (FRA) | Clément Davy (FRA) | (1998-07-17) 17 July 1998 (age 26) |
| Tom Donnenwirth (FRA) | Tom Donnenwirth (FRA) | (1997-01-19) 19 January 1997 (age 28) |
| David Gaudu (FRA) | David Gaudu (FRA) | (1996-10-10) 10 October 1996 (age 28) |
| Kévin Geniets (LUX) | Kévin Geniets (LUX) | (1997-01-09) 9 January 1997 (age 28) |
| Lorenzo Germani (ITA) | Lorenzo Germani (ITA) | (2002-03-03) 3 March 2002 (age 22) |
| Romain Grégoire (FRA) | Romain Grégoire (FRA) | (2003-01-21) 21 January 2003 (age 22) |
| Thibaud Gruel (FRA) | Thibaud Gruel (FRA) | (2004-05-01) 1 May 2004 (age 20) |
| Johan Jacobs (SUI) | Johan Jacobs (SUI) | (1997-03-01) 1 March 1997 (age 27) |
| Stefan Küng (SUI) | Stefan Küng (SUI) | (1993-11-16) 16 November 1993 (age 31) |
| | Rider | Date of birth |
| Olivier Le Gac (FRA) | Olivier Le Gac (FRA) | (1993-08-27) 27 August 1993 (age 31) |
| Eddy Le Huitouze (FRA) | Eddy Le Huitouze (FRA) | (2003-04-03) 3 April 2003 (age 21) |
| Valentin Madouas (FRA) | Valentin Madouas (FRA) | (1996-07-12) 12 July 1996 (age 28) |
| Guillaume Martin (FRA) | Guillaume Martin (FRA) | (1993-06-03) 3 June 1993 (age 31) |
| Rudy Molard (FRA) | Rudy Molard (FRA) | (1989-09-17) 17 September 1989 (age 35) |
| Quentin Pacher (FRA) | Quentin Pacher (FRA) | (1992-01-06) 6 January 1992 (age 33) |
| Enzo Paleni (FRA) | Enzo Paleni (FRA) | (2002-05-30) 30 May 2002 (age 22) |
| Paul Penhoët (FRA) | Paul Penhoët (FRA) | (2001-12-28) 28 December 2001 (age 23) |
| Rémy Rochas (FRA) | Rémy Rochas (FRA) | (1996-05-18) 18 May 1996 (age 28) |
| Brieuc Rolland (FRA) | Brieuc Rolland (FRA) | (2003-08-13) 13 August 2003 (age 21) |
| Clément Russo (FRA) | Clément Russo (FRA) | (1995-01-20) 20 January 1995 (age 30) |
| Lars van den Berg (NED) | Lars van den Berg (NED) | (1998-07-07) 7 July 1998 (age 26) |
| Matthew Walls (GBR) | Matthew Walls (GBR) | (1998-04-20) 20 April 1998 (age 26) |

## 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