2024 Season Review | Arkéa-B&B Hotels: Tour de France victory; Arnaud Demare's struggles, possible disaster in 2025
Cycling
Arkéa-B&B Hotels finished the 2024 season in a similar position to last year, 19th in the UCI WorldTeam rankings, accumulating 8735 points, which is an improvement from the 7229 points they managed in 2023.
However, this increase wasn’t enough to regain the form they showed in 2022, when they finished 13th. The team, based in Rennes, France, has had its struggles this season, exposing how dependent they are on key riders like Arnaud Démare, who endured a challenging year that impacted the team's overall performance.
What went wrong for Arnaud Démare?
Arnaud Démare’s 2024 season was far from his best. The 33-year-old, once a regular contender in major sprint classics, was unable to match his past achievements. Démare, a former winner of Milan-San Remo and a 10-time stage winner in Grand Tours, was a shadow of his former self this year, even abandoning the Tour de France after 19 stages. This decline in form hit Arkéa-B&B Hotels hard, as the team heavily relies on his sprinting ability to secure points in the World Tour rankings. His lack of presence in the big sprint classics meant the team was missing one of its primary point-earners, and it showed.
The team's struggles underscore how crucial Démare’s performance is to their success. While 2024 saw a slight improvement in total points compared to 2023, it’s clear that Arkéa-B&B Hotels needs a strong Démare to make a more significant impact, and to gain more victories. If the veteran sprinter can regain his top form, the team could be back in contention for top finishes in 2025. Without that, they may continue to flounder in the lower ranks of the World Tour.
Classics season
The 2024 classics season was a mixed bag for Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Competing in races often dominated by cycling superstars like Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel, it was a challenge for any team outside the elite to make a mark. However, one standout moment came from 26-year-old Italian Luca Mozzato, who delivered the team's best result of the year with a stunning second-place finish at the Tour of Flanders. Finishing behind the formidable Mathieu van der Poel, Mozzato’s achievement earned Arkéa-B&B Hotels 200 WorldTour points, their biggest haul of the season, which was significant for a team that struggled to find consistency.
The Tour of Flanders is one of cycling's toughest races, renowned for its steep cobbled climbs and unpredictable weather. Mozzato's second place highlighted both his talent and potential for future classics success. In addition to his Tour of Flanders performance, Mozzato claimed victory at the Bredene Koksijde Classic, showcasing his ability to handle the cobbled terrain and raising hopes for more classics success in the upcoming season. This smaller Belgian race, often overshadowed by the Monuments, provided a morale boost for the team amidst a challenging year.
Another strong classics performance came from 23-year-old French rider Kevin Vauquelin, who finished second at La Flèche Wallonne. Losing out to Stephen Williams, Vauquelin’s result brought in another 150 World Tour points for the team, making it their second-highest points-scoring race of the year. His development is a promising sign, with Vauquelin set to be a key rider for Arkéa-B&B Hotels as they navigate the post-2024 landscape.
Meanwhile, Florian Sénéchal, who joined the team in 2024 as a cobbled classics specialist, struggled to live up to expectations. His season was marred by personal and professional difficulties, including a 62nd place at the Tour of Flanders, a disappointing outcome for a rider expected to lead in the spring classics.
Sénéchal’s challenges, including the emotional toll of his grandfather's passing, took a visible toll on his performance. In a candid interview with Le Télégramme, he admitted feeling on the brink of burnout, confessing: "I was close to a burn-out. I thought about ending my career." Despite the hardships, Sénéchal has recommitted himself to a comeback in 2025, a sentiment that echoes the team’s need for resilience.
Grand Tour season
Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ grand tour season was a story of two halves: one moment of glory contrasted by a series of underwhelming results. The highlight was undoubtedly Kevin Vauquelin’s victory in Stage 2 of the Tour de France. The 23-year-old Frenchman delivered an impressive solo win on the San Luca climb, showcasing his climbing prowess and providing a rare moment of triumph for the team on cycling’s biggest stage. This victory was significant, not only for Vauquelin’s career but for Arkéa-B&B Hotels, marking their first-ever Tour de France stage win.
However, beyond Vauquelin’s success, the team's grand tour performances were largely forgettable. Cristian Rodriguez, the team’s main GC contender, managed 36th place in the Tour and 13th at the Vuelta, replicating his 2023 Vuelta finish. While these results demonstrate his consistency, they lack the star quality needed to elevate the team’s standing. Rodriguez’s 5th place at the Tour of Oman was a positive, yet isolated, highlight in a season that failed to deliver sustained grand tour success. This is truly an area the team must work on if they are to solidify their place in the World Tour going forward. Of course, this is easier said than done.
As Arkéa-B&B Hotels looks to the future, they are facing a period of transition. The team is set to lose several key riders in 2025 as a cost-cutting measure. Riders like Clément Champoussin, Louis Barré, Mathis Louvel, Daniel McLay, and Alan Riou are all set to depart for new teams, leaving a gap in Arkéa-B&B Hotels' roster. This shift in personnel reflects the team's financial challenges, adding pressure to perform with a potentially thinner squad next season.
How can Arkéa-B&B Hotels improve for 2025?
Looking ahead, Arkéa-B&B Hotels will need to capitalise on the foundations they’ve laid this year while addressing their weaknesses. A number of key goals should guide their strategy:
Reinvigorating Arnaud Démare: The French veteran’s return to form is crucial. If Démare can recover his past brilliance, particularly in the sprint classics, Arkéa-B&B Hotels will have a solid chance to challenge for top finishes. A strong Démare would not only boost the team’s points tally but also serve as a morale booster for the entire squad.
Developing Kevin Vauquelin: Vauquelin’s impressive performances in 2024 show he has the potential to be a future leader, and Arkea must utilise his talents or he will certainly be snapped up by a competitor. The team should invest in his development, aiming to make him a consistent performer in both the classics and grand tours. His victory on Stage 2 of the Tour de France was a highlight, and the goal for 2025 should be to build on that momentum with more stage wins and a solid GC presence.
Read also
Strengthening the Classics Squad: The classics remain a key area for Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Luca Mozzato’s success in 2024 hints at his potential to become a leader in these demanding races. Supporting riders like Mozzato and giving Florian Sénéchal the tools he needs to recover from a difficult year will be vital. A strong classics squad could help the team make up for any losses in the grand tours.
Making Strategic Transfers: With several riders leaving, Arkéa-B&B Hotels should look to the transfer market for emerging talents who can step up in 2025. Younger riders with promise in both the classics and stage races could provide the depth they need without straining the budget.
Final verdict: 5/10
Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ 2024 season saw missed opportunities and flashes of promise. Kevin Vauquelin’s Tour de France stage win and Luca Mozzato’s classics performances were high points, but the team remains overly dependent on Arnaud Démare, whose struggles this year weighed heavily on their results. With a roster in transition and financial challenges ahead, 2025 will be a critical year for Arkéa-B&B Hotels. They have the potential to rebound, but it will take smart management, strong leadership from key riders, and a bit of luck to break into the top tier of WorldTour teams. Without that, they could find themselves at risk of relegation going forward.
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- There is a cyclist, recently retired who raced as a Junior in 1997, and is known as 'The Goat'. Downhill legend, Greg Minnaar......wipperman9530-12-2024
- The road bias of this site shows up as PFP isn't mentioned - who is as successful as Vos, and from memory has more World titles.wipperman9530-12-2024
- his wife was surprisingly accurateabstractengineer30-12-2024
- Its the wrong thing to do the Vuelta after getting exhausted in the TDF. This is going to reduce his career potentialabstractengineer30-12-2024
- And you missed that I wasn’t contradicting but enhancing or adding to the discussion :-) I am surprised MJ made it that far without some of this having been picked up earlier. To further make my point, yes, by all means correct/improve anything that you can later in life but like disease, think of prevention before asking for cures, even in cycling a lot is crucial at the early stages but unfortunately, unlike athletics, cycling is a sport that rarely takes (youth) coaching seriously, if at all, it’s basically each to himself and we’ll pick the better ones once there’s enough development. About the only thing young cyclists get forced to learn is to ride with high cadence and that isn’t even coach induced but almost institutionalised. And as I tried to imply, no matter how much you perfect technique, we are all absolutely unique in our mechanical motions, you just have to watch the posture and strides of runners to note how dissimilar each is, and a crucial point to always remember is that by trying to force a better technique you may gain something somewhere but lose more elsewhere, you have to know whether it leaves you « comfortably within your natural boundaries « , eg, no point to improve your saddle position for more aerodynamicity if you’re going to have to ride uncomfortably for hours coz your mental state will drag more on your performance than your aerodynamics gain.Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- this isn’t really a discussion about cycling anymore, but that’s cool. so, i live in the united states. there are a lot of things that i don’t like about the way things work or fail to work here, especially compared to many other developed democracies. but one thing the united states does do well is it secures an extraordinarily high level of free speech. now, am i disgusted by the likes of alex jones and how he USES that freedom of speech? you bet. and there are infinite examples of people saying things i’m disgusted and outraged by. but unless someone is going to hand over control to censorOCexile30-12-2024
- I feel you missed my point - those who can be coached and can change can improve with new insights. And it helps to have people who see what needs to change to move that along. I’m focusing on the biomechanical expert in the article, without whom Jorgensen wouldn’t have improved. Context matters.RidesHills30-12-2024
- Yes, but also what eyes can’t do. I was an athletics coach for kids for years and you can see and try to correct as many faults as there are but some requirements are just not possible. It’s very hard to visualize but we all know from experiences, in sport, the most obvious one is the swimming conundrum, you can never become a top level swimmer unless your body grew into it young, maybe gymnastics would be similar. And outside sport, it’s as easy as learning to twitch your ear, if you can ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- Look, I respect your view but you need to question them out of principle too so I’m going to ask you to ask yourself the same question as someone else, should a living Adolf have been given a platform for discussing war tactics? Should Alex Jones have been allowed to continue his Sandy Hook accusations? Somewhere along a scale society has to draw lines, individuals in their head don’t but the internet is open, it’s society, those who want to exchange non-compatible societal IDEAS can still do so, in private amongst themselves but not market them publicly. Besides wasn’t it part of the deal he was not to be involved in cycling? A public show about cycling seems to fly in the face of that but I guess as so often, it was a poorly worded « contract » and with a lack of morals, limits were bound to be tested, again ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- Well, perhaps we still consider sport* to be more of a men’s thing? * I have to say that watching my partner at her badminton club that seems to be one of the rare sports where a more balanced attitude is ambivalent, perhaps because most prefer to play mixed doubles at that level and it’s a very social sport at club level and each match type has equal weighting towards a tournament total?Mistermaumau30-12-2024