French ex-pro presents plan to create brand new team with goal to race Tour de France in 2028: "We want to change everything"

Ex-pro Pierre-Luc Périchon presented his vision of a brand new men's and women's team at ProTeam level from 2026. With his partner Raphaël Taïeb, they intend to invent a new economic and sporting model. Their aim? Tour de France in 2028.

Périchon who retired after 11 years in the professional peloton made his analysis for L'Équipe: "The economic, strategic and sporting model of the current teams is aging. The way it works is a bit archaic and as a rider I've always heard: 'Pierre-Luc, we've been working like this for 40 years, it's always worked, we're not going to change today.' Well, we want to change everything."

Read also

"Eddy Merckx was a real professional who largely rode against cigar farmers" - Ex-pro says Tadej Pogacar far more impressive than the legendary 'Cannibal'

"The current problem in cycling is that you often have one or even two sponsors who represent 90% of the budget," he explains. So the teams do not have their own identity. For example, in ten years, the Fortuneo team where Pierre-Luc race has changed colors three times, name seven times, some sponsors have left for competing teams... "For the followers, it's super complicated to be a 'fan' of a team."

"The real heart of the project is human values, the pleasure of cycling. During my career, I realized that they were put aside because there was the issue of climbs or descents, UCI points... I am convinced that when we manage to bring back humanity, a collective sense, the sporting result follows."

Read also

Have Visma selected their '8' for the Tour de France? Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert joined by Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and more

“I still feel confident that if we went all-in, all three together, I would still win the Vuelta” - Sepp Kuss dispels talk of 'gifted' Grand Tour win