Having clocked up a fine victory tally of eleven wins this season, the Française des Jeux squad has been given a major vote of confidence by its title sponsor, which has decided to extend its commitment.
The French gambling business has opted to remain involved for a further four seasons, and so the team is guaranteed until at least 2014. It has said that the team’s budget will continue at seven million euros a year.
“The budget is that which is necessary to be in the ProTour,” said a spokesman, according to l’Equipe. “We are studying the possibility of another partner, but we can also do without that.”
The team has had a successful first half to the season. It took a consecutive three stage victories in the Tour Méditerranean, thanks to Yauheni Hutarovich and Jussi Veikkanen, then picked up a win in the Volta ao Algarve (Benoit Vaugrenard) and two in the Tour du Haut Var (Christophe Le Mevel).
Jérémy Roy netted his first of the year in the Tro-Bro Léon, then the tally jumped when four wins were clocked up in May. Vaugrenard found success again on stage five of the Four Days of Dunkirk, Hutarovich and Anthony Roux nabbed stages of the Circuit de Lorraine, and then Wesley Sulzberger picked up the GP de Plumelec-Morbihan.
Many of the riders will take part in the national road race championships this Sunday. They will then head to the Tour de France, aiming to at least equal the performance of 2009, when Sandy Casar won stage 16 of the race.
The news of the sponsorship extension will take a lot of pressure off both riders and team management, as it enables new contracts to be drawn up prior to the Tour.
Christophe Le Mevel, Jeremy Roy and Yauheni Hutarovich have been courted by other teams but with a good budget in place, team manager Marc Madio should be able to retain the riders if he so wishes.