Too reliant on one man: Arkea B&B Hotels 2025 verdict

Expectations for Arkéa–B&B Hotels going into 2025 were modest. Most observers expected any top results to come from Kévin Vauquelin and so it proved. The team struggled badly in the Monuments, failing to make an impression in any of the five. With financial uncertainty hanging over them all season, the pressure on the French squad was immense.

Wins: 9
UCI Ranking: 20th
The Verdict: 6.5/10

If you focus solely on their Tour de France performance, Arkéa’s year had a bright centrepiece. Vauquelin’s breakout ride at the Tour was a genuine highlight, putting his team firmly in the global spotlight just as Arkéa were desperately seeking new sponsorship. Unfortunately, that spark was not enough to sustain them.

Outside the Tour, the now defunct French outfit failed to register any truly notable results. And with no sponsor secured, the team has disbanded, leaving riders and staff scrambling for new opportunities ahead of the 2026 season.

In the end, a 6.5 out of 10 feels fair. Without Vauquelin’s performances, it would have been far lower. Other than the mentioned protagonist for Arkéa, Raúl García Pierna, Ewen Costiou and Victor Gurnalec picked up victories for the French outfit, clearly showing the heavy reliance on Vauquelin.

Kévin Vauquelin was a joy to watch in 2025. His never-say-die attitude throughout the season produced some remarkable results, most notably during the Tour de France in July. With grit and sheer determination, the man from Brittany secured an outstanding seventh place in the general classification. Earlier in the spring, he also finished second behind the unstoppable Tadej Pogačar on the Mur de Huy at La Flèche Wallonne.

Vauquelin’s breakout year has earned him a move to new horizons with INEOS for the 2026 season, where he will hope to build on the brilliant form he showed throughout 2025.

There is no doubt that the Tour de France was Arkéa–B&B Hotels’ greatest success of the 2025 season. The team went all in behind Vauquelin, who even spent time in the white jersey. Many observers expected the young Frenchman to slip out of the top ten, but he defied those predictions with courage and consistency to secure seventh overall, ably supported by his teammates.

Alessandro Verre raced 77 times for Arkéa–B&B Hotels in 2025, including appearances at both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Bahrain Victorious
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar
• Picnic-PostNL
• Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
• Soudal Quick-Step
• XDS-Astana