"I had already moved on..." - Geoffrey Bouchard reflects on his sudden decision to unretire after only a month

Geoffrey Bouchard announced his retirement from professional cycling in October... and has returned just a month later. The winner of KOM classifications at both Vuelta a Espana (2019) and Giro d'Italia (2021) was already done with cycling after he struggled to find a new team as his current team Decathlon AG2R didn't wish to renew with the 33-year-old. But then TotalEnergies entered the equation and turned Bouchard's post-retirement plans upside down with an offer to extend his career, and subsequently finish on his own terms another day.

"I had announced my retirement because I had crashed and broken my collarbone at the Tour de Luxembourg. I thought that with the current situation, the closure of many teams, it was going to be very difficult to find a new team," Bouchard explained the situation to journalist Louis-Pierre Frileux from the French branch of Eurosport.

Bouchard had been through considerable lows since the mid-2023 when he a hard crash in Dauphiné timetrial took him out for two weeks. Then came a Vuelta and another DNF after two weeks into the race. Afterwards, Bouchard spent 9 months out of competition to only start racing in June the following year. Entering 2025, Bouchard was optimistic to leave a strong impression, but two crashes in the opening stages of Giro d'Italia in May, and later Tour de Luxembourg in September halted his attempts at securing a new contract. All hope was lost...

"In mid-November, I received a call from the TotalEnergies team, via Benoît Génauzeau. I wondered what the reason for his call was. And now, here I am, back for the 2026 season."

It's fair to say that the call was a shock even for the 33-year-old who was "mentally over" being professional cyclist, although it wasn't the end he had envisioned. But his profile perfectly met the demands of the French ProTeam who were looking to fill out some blank spots in their lineup at a later date.

"Team TotalEnergies wanted to fill out its calendar and had additional support in the mountains to assist their talented young riders. I fit the bill perfectly," Bouchard explained. "I had to talk to my family and friends to get their opinion, because I had moved on to other projects."

The sudden lifeline re-ignited the flame in Bouchard's heart: "I still had that love, that desire to do sport. I don't want to have any regrets about what I didn't do these past few years. Throughout the year, I still had the ambition to find a team again. As the weeks went by, one thing led to another. I thought it was over. But the discussions I had with the Team TotalEnergies staff gave me a breath of fresh air."

Additionally, there's an opportunity to ride the Tour de France as it passes through Bouchard's hometown. Providing he makes the selection for the race. "Two or three days after my retirement announcement, I saw that the Tour de France was coming to and from Voiron. It's my hometown, my parents live there. It's the town where I grew up. I found it a bit frustrating to stop the year the Tour passed through Voiron."

And so for 2026, Bouchard is moving from one French team to another. But while Decathlon has grown to be more international in past seasons, TotalEnergies is entirely French formation with what Bouchard describes as a "great team spirit".

"I really liked their racing style. It was exactly the team I wanted: to drop down a level, move up to the Pro Continental level, and have a different race calendar than what I've done in recent years," he concludes.