TotalEnergies fight off January shutdown as sponsor search reaches crucial stage

The current partnership with TotalEnergies will end after the 2026 season. Unless fresh investment is secured, the team could cease operations on 31 January 2027, making it another French professional team to fold following Arkéa B&B Hotels at the end of the 2025 season.

Team founder Jean-René Bernaudeau and general manager Stéphane Heulot are leading the search. Heulot, who joined the organisation after leaving Lotto, says talks with potential partners have progressed beyond the early stages, although no final agreement has been reached.

“There are a lot of things in the pipeline,” Heulot said to L'Equipe. “We are well beyond initial contact and discussions, but these are still significant sums of money that need to be found.”

The French ProTeam has been working under considerable time pressure. According to Heulot, securing a sponsorship deal of this size would normally take between 18 months and two years. TotalEnergies have had less than nine months to find a solution.

“We are not far away,” he said. “We have to keep fighting. We are full of energy and we believe.”

TotalEnergies are also believed to be assisting the process by opening their commercial network to the team. The company could potentially provide additional financial support to a project led by a new principal sponsor.

One potential partner was reportedly prepared to invest around €10 million, provided that a second major sponsor could also be found. A full continuation of TotalEnergies as title sponsor is considered unlikely, but the company does not want to appear to be abandoning the organisation.

The uncertainty has left riders facing difficult decisions about their futures. Team management has asked them and their agents to remain patient and avoid signing elsewhere before the end of the summer.

Sprinter Émilien Jeannière remains confident that a solution can be found. “We trust Jean-René and Stéphane,” he said to L'Equipe. “The team has always been able to attract good sponsors. It is a team that people care about.”

Changes could also be made to the sporting management, with former professional Tony Gallopin reportedly among the leading candidates for a senior role.

Meanwhile, plans are moving forward elsewhere in the organisation. Vendée U could step up to Continental level in 2027, while the women’s programme could become a professional development team.

For now, however, the priority is clear. The coming months will determine whether one of French cycling’s longest standing structures can continue into 2027.