€40 million budget, Tour de France dream with Paul Seixas and disappearance of AG2R - French team undergoes massive changes
CyclingMonday, 07 July 2025 at 13:15
The bombshell has sounded loudly on the first Monday of the Tour de France 2025. The future of the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team has changed drastically in a few moments. After 28 years, the French team's main sponsor has sold the team it has sponsored since 1998.
According to the media L'Équipe, Decathlon has bought the ownership of the company France Cycling, until now in the hands of AG2R La Mondiale. It is not yet known what the new name of the French team will be.
Decathlon's goal is very clear: it wants to elevate the team to the top of the World Tour. Now you can understand the news that came out a few days ago, which reported the intention to completely reorganize the squad of cyclists next winter, giving exit to at least 10 of its riders.
To that end, the sports network has also announced that it is seeking a new co-sponsor to increase the French WorldTour team's budget to more than 40 million euros.
"Discussions with a new sponsor are at an advanced stage. It is possible that the name of the new sponsor will be announced before the end of this Tour de France," Decathlon's statement revealed.
Dominique Serieys, general manager of the French team, is clear that the team's new future can only look upwards: "Our first objective is to stay in the top 5 in world cycling and, if possible, to climb the podium. We want to win the Tour de France by 2030 at the latest".
In addition to fighting overall with riders like their promising talent, Paul Seixas, Decathlon also wants to make a big push in classics and mass sprints. That's why the names of Olav Kooij and Tiesj Benoot, both from Visma, are being bandied about so strongly in the cycling rumor market for the 2026 season.
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