Valentin Madouas reveals internal struggles at Groupama-FDJ ahead of UCI points hunt

Cornec’s arrival, announced at the end of December as Marc Madiot stepped back, signals a shift for one of the peloton’s most historic outfits, still proudly French in its identity with 23 French riders in a squad of 29. But the bigger change is what Groupama-FDJ United are now talking about out loud. For the first time, the team is openly framing its season around the points system that decides who stays in the WorldTour at the end of the current cycle in 2028.

Until now, the numbers in the background were not really their language. “We never talked about it. We started races to win them, not to score points,” said race director Philippe Mauduit. That mindset was easier to hold when the team finished seventh in the world in 2023 and tenth in 2024. In 2025, they dropped to eighteenth, a position that suddenly makes the long game feel urgent.

Results tell part of it. Romain Grégoire won six times and gave the season some shape, but the broader output was thin and the leaders did not deliver. 

Team leader Valentin Madouas did not shy away from that reality. “Romain saved things a little, but leaders like David Gaudu, Paul Penhoët or myself did not get the results we should have had,” he said. “Yet I had the best physical values of my life.”

Then he pointed to what went wrong behind the curtains. “With the staff, there were lots of misunderstandings between the different departments: training, medical, the sports directors,” Madouas said. “After the Tour de France, we cleared the air. That did a huge amount of good for everyone. We are starting again with a completely different dynamic.”

The team also believes the reset is structural, not just motivational. Madouas said the squad has “structured itself, mainly in the staff, and added depth in riders” through new signings like Ewen Costiou, Clément Berthet, who will lead at the Giro, and Bastien Tronchon, who is targeting the Flemish races. Madouas called them “great signings,” and he also laid out the tactical logic for classics season. 

“We are not going to beat a Pogačar or a Van der Poel on pure power, but we can do it by anticipating with a group of three or four riders,” he said. “This consistency can allow us to challenge them and also get as many top fives as possible. Because the goal will also be to score.”

Co-leader Romain Grégoire, who will focus on one-day races early in the year, made the stakes explicit. “It is important to start well straight away to be in the fight for UCI points, so that it stops being a topic and we can focus on winning,” he said, before adding: “The challenge is important because it is simply about the long term future of the team.”