Cycling: The French WorldTour Team FDJ was able to win a new sponsor for the coming 2018 season and will in future be at the start under the name Groupama-FDJ.
The French L'Equipe reported today that the insurance group Groupama will be involved as a sponsor of the French professional team FDJ. A medium-term concept was developed and a commitment of three years was set. The French insurance group will support manager Marc Madiot's team until 2020. Groupama is not entirely unknown in sports sponsorship, it has already actively invested in sailing and supported the football stadiums in Lyon and Budapest as a name sponsor. Groupama will contribute almost the same share as FDJ to the budget. The state Lottery Francais des Jeux wants to reduce its commitment somewhat in order to use other sporting events with regard to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as an advertising medium.
According to L'Equipe, the new sponsor constellation means that the WorldTour team will have an annual budget of between 16 and 20 million euros and will thus overtake its national competitor Ag2R, whose budget is said to be around 15 million euros.