Our first title sponsor is the well known French supplier of any kind of cycling equipment Ekoi. After using Ekoi products already in our inaugural season, they then moved up to main sponsor in 2023.

Our second title sponsor is the French manufacturer of cookware Le Creuset, well known for its iconic ‘volcanic flame’ casseroles. Le Creuset is with our team since the beginning, initially being our only title sponsor.

French bike manufacturer Lapierre is our bike supplier and a minor sponsor as well, working with us since the founding of the team.

Our wheels are supplied by another well known French company: Corima is another minor sponsor which is with us ever since.

Renault doesn’t need an introduction, so we are more than happy they stay as a minor sponsor which sees to the teams logistics as well.

Shimano is another well known partner in cycling. They supply us with bike components since the founding of the team, an arrangement that’s probably going to continue as long as there’s no French components partner available.

Another minor partner and supplier is Italian saddle manufacturer fi’zi:k.

Renewals were even more thrilling in our second season as we had to wait a long time to get confirmation of our division for next season. So we entered the process with some uncertainty, though the most important negotiations were already done after round 2. So let’s have a closer look at the results:

Captains:
APP was clearly one of the main targets in renewals and we were able to not only resign him, but also to convince him to accept a reduced wage of 270k. Given he’s clearly our best rider right now this renewal was crucial to decide on our goals for next season. Unfortunately he was our only captain to accept a wage cut.
Teuns got a smaller increase of 20k, reducing in a wage of 150k which should be still low enough to make him a nice target for CT teams if we decide to sell him.
Gall is now on the same wage after a hefty increase of 45k, but after his great ToA performance this was to be expected.
Russo as kind of our main sprinter is another story as we weren’t willing to pay him what he wanted after a rather meh season from him, so he was ultimately released.

Youngsters:
Mirroring our self-image as a team that develops riders renewing our youngsters was as important as resigning our captains. And we had no bigger problems here. Our ‘older’ youngsters Louvel, Boileau, Garibian and Delbove all signed for the minimum wage, thus saving us 30k in wages from Louvel. This should also make it easier to loan them out to PT if needed.
The most important (and most expensive) renewal was that of Vauquelin. He resigned on a wage of 110k which was more than we had hoped for, but nonetheless saves us 60k in his wage.
We stated earlier that our stagiaires have rather low chances to be resigned and so it came with all of them being released.

Domestiques:
After promoting our domestiques wanted their share of the cake too – we hardly could be mad about that after all of them added some crucial wins or podiums and thus points to achieve the promotion. So Paulus is now on a 60k wage which seems still rather decent and should secure his place in the squad after transfers too.
Le Gac got the same raise of 10k, but as he started with a higher wage anyway he’s now on 65k. It’s much the same as with Paulus in his case. On a side note both are C2 eligible and could see some RDs as captains as a result.
Chevrier was probably the surprise of the year in our team with 2 stage wins. Unfortunately this led to some wage demands that we weren’t willing to fulfil given his rather mediocre skillset, resulting in releasing one of the few riders still with us from the start. Maybe we’ll come together in transfers if he stays a free agent till the end.
This only leaves our two drafted riders to consider. Lammertink didn’t get an offer as he declined and mostly disappointed our expectations anyway (apart from the surprise win at ToA). With Jiang it’s another story. The prologue specialist agreed our 50k offer and could display his newly acquired NC jersey for us next season, though with some partly Chinese new teams in CT he could well leave us.

Conclusion:
Overall we can well live with the results of the renewals as we were able to renew all crucial riders while still reducing the salaries overall (though only by 5k regarding those riders who were resigned). We start transfers with a cap space of 1,445,000 which should give us some room to improve our squad in all terrains.

		2023 wage	2024 wage	difference
Alex Baudin	€10,000	released	-€10,000
Alan Boileau	€50,000	€50,000	€0
Clement Chevrier	€50,000	rejected	-€50,000
Joris Delbove	€50,000	€50,000	€0
Felix Gall	€105,000	€150,000	+€45,000
Arman Garibian	€50,000	€50,000	€0
Zhihui Jiang	€0	€50,000	+€50,000
Maurits Lammertink	€0	released	€0
Olivier Le Gac	€55,000	€65,000	+€10,000
Matis Louvel	€80,000	€50,000	-€30,000
Aurelien Paret-Peintre	€320,000	€270,000	-€50,000
Valentin Paret-Peintre	€10,000	released	-€10,000
Daniel Paulus	€50,000	€60,000	+€10,000
Evan Russell	€10,000	released	-€10,000
Clement Russo	€50,000	rejected	-€50,000
Dylan Teuns	€130,000	€150,000	+€20,000
Hugo Toumire	€10,000	released	-€10,000
Kevin Vauquelin	€170,000	€110,000	-€60,000
			total change	-€145,000
			effective change	-€5,000

@Fabi
Glad to hear you approve of my renewals, with your recent successes that's surely worth something.
PS: Does that mean Brunel has another number of dots?

@Booker
Nice to hear you like my approach. Also nice to hear there's probably some interest in a certain Belgian

@quadsas
A 'strong intention to keep' is not a 'not for sale' sign, though he didn't tell the management about problems with acclimatization in France yet.

@red
Let's hope you're right! And the list of potential targets in transfers is already really long ...

@Laurens
Thanks! Just promise you don't use your cap space against me

liefwarrior wrote:

Congratulations on the promotion! There is a lot of potential in the riders you have brought up with you and I think you're making the right choice in thinking about moving Teuns on. Jiang's availability is more of a surprise, I would have thought that at minimum wage is potential for prologue scoring would keep him his spot.

Accounting for Teuns, you'll be making at least 10 signings. If you keep Gall then I imagine he'll be best utilised in the absence of a true mountain leader. APP will follow the Masnada route of hilly stage races. That leaves the sprints, the pavés and the timetrials; with plenty of cap-space to invest in each discipline. I can't see much collusion during transfers, but I'll see you once the racing starts! Best of luck.

jandal7 wrote:

Congrats on the promotion! Coming up with a load of cap space is always exciting, so much you could do. Will always keep an eye on Boileau after a good season of work for us - maybe if he needs a PT loan we could chat about an extension

SotD wrote:

Some decent riders on the offer here. In particular Gall and Teuns would be riders that would suit our team very well, and cover a bit of a gap we have.

Nemolito wrote:

Some decent regional talents and oldies available if you want to stick to that route as close as possible