Bientôt un Team Sky "à la française" ?

French Federation reveals plans for Team Sky "á la française"

New WorldTour team seeks sponsor
Nouvelle équipe World Tour recherche sponsor

The French Cycling Federation has revealed its plans to create a WorldTour team at a briefing at the newly-inaugurated Vélodrome National on the outskirts of Paris on Friday. La Fédération Française de Cyclisme (FFC) a révélé son projet de monter une équipe World Tour lors de l'inauguration, vendredi, du Vélodrome national dans la banlieue parisienne.

The idea was first floated publicly in February of last year by FFC president David Lappartient, who expressed his desire to create a “Team Sky à la française.” The Vélodrome National, inaugurated on Thursday, was itself a response to Britain’s recent dominance on the track, and like British Cycling, the FFC plans to use its new headquarters as a springboard towards creating an elite professional road team. L'idée a d'abord été lancée, en février 2013, par le président de la FFC, David Lappartient, qui exprimait son désir de monter une "Team Sky à la française". Le Vélodrome National, inauguré jeudi, était d'ailleurs une réponse à l'actuelle domination de la Grande-Bretagne sur la piste, et comme British Cycling, la fédération britannique, la FFC projette d'utiliser son nouveau quartier général comme un tremplin vers la création d'une équipe professionnelle tournée vers la route.

Speaking in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Friday, FFC managing director Olivier Quéguiner outlined plans for the ambitious, multi-disciplinary project, comprising of men’s and women’s teams in road, track, BMX, mountain bike and cyclo-cross. S'exprimant, à Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, vendredi, le directeur général de la FFC, Olivier Quéguiner a mis en exergue les traits de cet ambitieux projet multi-disciplinaire, incluant des équipes aussi bien masculines que féminines sur route, en BMX, VTT et cyclo-cross.

“The main objective is to participate in the Tour de France and to win the Tour with French riders, but there is also the aim of the Olympic Games, which is maybe a difference to other projects,” Quéguiner said. “We are focusing on athletes in all disciplines.” L'objectif principal est de participer au Tour de Franc et de remporter le Tour avec des coureurs français mais il y a aussi l'objectif des Jeux Olympiques qui peut différer des autres projets.", a déclaré Quéquiner. "Nous nous focalisons sur des athlètes de toutes les disciplines."

The team, which is in the process of looking for a title sponsor, could enter the peloton as early as 2015, although at this point, a start date of 2016 – or later – would appear more likely. L'équipe, qui est dans un processus de recherche de sponsor, pourrait intégrer le peloton dès 2015, quoiqu'à ce stade, un démarrage en 2016 ou plus tard, apparait plus probable.

Cyclingnews has been informed that that while the team “will have a French DNA”, the FFC is actively seeking international sponsors, accepting that a single French company may not be able to meet the budget demanded by the project. The planned team would have an annual budget of €25 million, with the intention that €20 million of it would be provided by a commercial sponsor. Cyclingnews a appris que même si l'équipe aura "une ADN française", la FFC recherche activement des sponsors internationaux, intégrant l'idée qu'une entreprise française seule, ne serait pas en mesure de répondre au budget réclamé par le projet. L'équipe projeté pourrait avoir un budget annuel de 25 M€, dont 20 M serait apportés par une marque commerciale.

Quéguiner said that the FFC has already presented its plans to newly-elected UCI president Brian Cookson and that while immediate WorldTour status is not a specific objective, “it is what we would like.”

The new FFC project could eventually involve a merger with one of the existing French WorldTour teams, and Cyclingnews understands that informal contact has already been made at least one of those teams, FDJ. In October of last year, FDJ announced that it would continue to sponsor Madiot’s team for at least the next three seasons. It is estimated that the French national lottery has committed €30 million to the squad over the next three years.

Quéguiner confirmed that the FFC has already presented its project to the French Professional League and its constituent teams, but suggested that any immediate merger was unlikely, stressing that the FFC project would be a new entity.

“For sure a company like FDJ has received this presentation and has to consider it of course,” Quéguiner said. “At the moment, it’s too early to say that the current FDJ could become this team because we are talking about 2015 and FDJ exists at this moment. It’s going on [next year] and we’re creating something else.”

The FFC is being aided in its search for a sponsor by Sportfive, a sports marketing agency. Sportfive’s Vincent Tong Cuong said that the men’s road team would be “the main driver” of the FFC project, citing the media exposure provided by participation in the UCI WorldTour, estimating that Team Sky generated a global media value of €400 million in 2013.

“We’re not just looking for a sponsor, we’re looking for a partner with whom to build a team and a company of 100 people, including 60 cyclists. A partner who would integrate and take decisions with the FFC,” Tong Cuong said.

News of the FFC’s plans for a professional team follows the inauguration of the Vélodrome National, Paris’ first covered velodrome in 55 years, on Thursday evening. The Vélodrome National serves as the FFC’s new headquarters and Queguiner said that the building had been planned with the new FFC multi-disciplinary team in mind.

“The team’s offices will be at the velodrome and the team was already in mind when we created this,” Quéguiner said. “This is a new company of 100 people. They need space and the space is already there.”

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