Groupama-FDJ under review: Red Bull and Bahrain hijack talents, so pressure will soon be on familiar shoulders

Groupama-FDJ is one of the most established teams in the WorldTour in France, but they, too, have to compete against the big-money teams in 2024. How did the French talents perform after all? Not bad, concludes IDLProCycling.com.

One-day races 2024: Groupama-FDJ

Although the most significant performance was expected from cobblestone specialist Stefan Küng, the very young Laurence Pithie impressed in the one-day events. The Australian came to Belgium and performed excellently (including a win in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race) and actually colored all the major cobbled races by showing he could join the best. This earned him a top-ten finish in Paris-Roubaix and seventh place in the Vélodrome.

Groupama-FDJ's list of achievements also includes many Lenny Martinez, who did well in the (mostly French) climbing races. Wins in the Classic Var, Trofeo Laigueglia, Tour du Doubs, and Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes made for happy faces. Kevin Geniets went on to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille La Marseillaise and the Luxembourg NK. Stefan Küng ended the year in style with a win in the Chrono des Nations.

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Laurence Pithie

(Grand) tours 2024: Groupama-FDJ

Four of the fifteen victories in 2024 came from tour work so that certainly wasn't too bad. In the Giro d'Italia, Enzo Paleni was ranked 56th, and in the Tour de France, Valentin Madouas was best ranked 25th. Nevertheless, the Vuelta a España made up for Groupama-FDJ's always highly regarded GC ambitions, with sixth place for David Gaudu. The French climber also won a stage in the Tour of Luxembourg.

In one-week stage races, Martinez also performed well for a long time. Second in O Gran Camiño (behind Jonas Vingegaard), seventh in the Tour de Catalunya, and eighth in the Tour de Romandie. Then, on paper, Groupama-FDJ made the odd choice to send Martinez to the Tour de France, for which, judging from a 32nd place in the Tour of Switzerland, he was not ready.

So Gaudu saved the year in terms of GCs in part two of the season in the Vuelta and finished third in Luxembourg. Other than that, there were no top ten places for him. For his part, Romain Gregoire finished seventh in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and fourth in the Tour of Poland. Nevertheless, his best performance was a stage victory in the Tour of the Basque Country.

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Final figure 2024 Groupama-FDJ

A 6.3 in 2023 turns into a 6.1 on this occasion. Not surprisingly, because in terms of performance, the last two seasons were pretty much tied together. It was not too bad in the grand tours, competing in the spring, but not enough cyclists kept winning.

Transfers 2024/2025: Groupama-FDJ 

Ten (!) talents were transferred from the training team in two winters, including Brieuc Rolland this time. They also shopped at WorldTour teams Cofidis and Movistar for Guillaume Martin, Rémi Cavagna, and Johan Jacobs. These are all quality guys who should make up for the loss of the departing Lenny Martinez together. The young climber to Bahrain Victorious is a massive loss for Groupama-FDJ.

So is Laurence Pithie, who will ride for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe after a great spring. For his part, Samuel Watson will soon be racing for INEOS Grenadiers. So, on paper, the team is not improving, but we thought that more often in the past. Can the increasingly young team still surprise, or will it have to come from the established names after all?

New arrivals: Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Rémi Cavagna (Movistar Team), Johan Jacobs (Movistar Team), Tom Donnenwirth (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team), Clément Braz Afonso (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and Brieuc Rolland (Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ)

Leaving (provisional): Ignatas Konovalovas (quits) Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Fabian Lienhard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Samuel Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) and Reuben Thompson (Lotto)

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Lenny Martinez

Ones to watch 2025: Groupama-FDJ

Groupama-FDJ has pushed one talent after another to the WorldTour team in recent years, and it was certainly not always without success. Lenny Martinez earned an excellent transfer. Romain Gregoire will stay on board, though, and with his punch and climbing skills, he is one of the big stars for the future of this formation. The still-only 22-year-old Paul Penhoët was also kept out of the hands of the big players, so they have added someone for the sprints and one-day classics.

In general, however, in 2025, most of the work will come from experienced riders. David Gaudu should push on, and Valentin Madouas, in his best form, is also dangerous. Guillaume Martin will play his part, and Stefan Küng is nowhere near the end of his rope. So, there are no big superstars; they might come from a group of talents recruited in many places.

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David Gaudu

(Provisional) selection Groupama-FDJ 2025

1. Lewis Askey
2. Cyril Barthe
3. Clément Braz Afonso
4. Sven Erik Bystrom
5. Rémi Cavagna
6. Clément Davy
7. Tom Donnenwirth
8. David Gaudu
9. Kevin Geniets
10. Lorenzo Germani
11. Romain Grégoire
12. Thibaud Gruel
13. Johan Jacobs
14. Stefan Küng
15. Olivier Le Gac
16. Eddy Le Huitouze
17. Valentin Madouas
18. Guillaume Martin
19. Rudy Molard
20. Quentin Pacher
21. Enzo Paleni
22. Paul Penhoët
23. Rémy Rochas
24. Brieuc Rolland
25. Clément Russo
26. Lars van den Berg
27. Matthew Walls

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])      

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