Arkéa and B&B Hotels confirm end of sponsorship after 2025 season

The Arkéa-B&B Hotels men’s and women’s teams are under severe risk of disbanding at the end of the season after both title sponsors confirmed they would not continue their backing into 2026. The news was reported simultaneously by Ouest France and Le Télégramme on Wednesday morning.

An internal memo was distributed by team manager Emmanuel Hubert to inform riders and staff of confirmation of Arkéa and B&B Hotels’ decision not to renew their sponsorship at season’s end. 

Hubert indicated that he would continue to seek replacement sponsors, although he has already acknowledged that securing backing ahead of the Tour was all but essential to ensuring his squad’s survival.

“My team is in mortal danger – especially if, by mid-June, we still need to close a deal,” Hubert told Le Parisien in April. “At that point, if it's still a no, we'll have to be clear-headed. It would be almost unheard of to close something after that. It happened once to Jean-René Bernaudeau, who signed Europcar at the end of the summer of 2010. But that kind of deal to save the house is a miracle.”

Hubert had already given the green light to riders to seek deals with other teams, with Tour de Suisse runner-up Kévin Vauquelin among those set to move elsewhere in 2026.

In his letter to riders and staff on Wednesday, which was later published on Daniel Benson’s Substack, Hubert acknowledged the gravity of the situation but vowed to keep trying to find a backer for 2026.

“For several months now, aware of the fragility of our model, I have been actively seeking new partners and opening new doors. Nothing is certain yet, but there are encouraging signs. And I continue to believe,” Hubert wrote.

“Several of you have asked me for permission to explore other avenues, to take the initiative. I have granted it, without reservation or judgment. This is normal, it is healthy, and I respect each of you in your actions and decisions.

“But for those who, like me, still want to believe, know that you have a place here. You are at home. And as long as there is a glimmer of possibility, I will continue to fight for our adventure to continue.”

Hubert has previously indicated that he is seeking backing to the tune of €25 million to keep both men’s and women’s teams on the road in 2026. In April, he suggested he had been close to securing a deal with what he termed a “very large French company”, only for the deal to fall through.

Based in Rennes, the team was launched in 2005 as Bretagne–Jean Floc’h and received its first Tour de France invitation in 2014.

The arrival of Arkéa as title sponsor in 2019 marked a new phase in the team’s ambitions, as did the signing of Nairo Quintana for the 2020 season. The squad later earned promotion to the WorldTour for the current three-year cycle, which began in 2023, though Hubert’s team already looks doomed to relegation to ProTeam level for 2026.

The women's team was launched at Continental level in 2020 and became a UCI ProTeam at the beginning of this season.