Arkéa-B&B Motels staff supervisor Emmanuel Hubert confirmed in June that his two title sponsors would not be on board in 2026, fuelling a frenzied seek for new backers amid what they warned was a ‘difficult biking context for biking’.
Three months later, the way forward for the 20-year-old French squad continues to be hanging within the steadiness, with the state of affairs increasingly dire as key deadlines for the 12 months forward loom.
“I’ve by no means given up. By no means,” Hubert informed Le Parisien this week. “However I’ve an obligation to be clear-headed: it’s clear that we’re very removed from being on the precise path after we take a look at the calendar.”
The present sponsorships might run to the top of the 12 months however the steps alongside the way in which for the boys’s WorldTeam and Girls’s ProTeam should be effectively in place earlier than then.
The primary hurdle comes on September 15, when the staff wants to start the 2026 WorldTour and staff registration course of. Step one is a dedication of at the very least €80,000.
With no new sponsors confirmed, Hubert goes to pay the charges out of his personal pocket as that is “what it means to be a boss who fights and sees issues via”.
“And on October 1, you need to submit a financial institution assure,” Hubert mentioned in Le Parisien interview.
“Then the axe will fall. If I haven’t got at the very least a agency letter of dedication, will probably be over.”
The shortage of certainty is not going to assist the squad maintain onto its finest riders, with all given permission to go away given the state of affairs.
Raúl García Pierna has simply introduced a take care of Movistar, Luca Mozzato is heading to Tudor Professional Biking, Martin Tjøtta is on his approach to Uno-X Mobility whereas Jenthe Biermans is on his approach to Cofidis.
A lot of key riders throughout the boys’s and ladies’s groups which are but to announce their plans for 2026.
Within the males’s squad this contains French sprinter Arnaud Démare and the rising Kévin Vauquelin, who has been out injured for the reason that Tour de France however has nonetheless picked up 5 wins for the staff this season regardless. Within the girls’s staff there’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Lotte Claes, Dutch rider Marjolein van ‘t Geloof, Austrian Valentina Cavallar and skilled Swedish rider Emilia Fahlin.
Hubert mentioned he began with about fifteen potential choices to interchange the misplaced sponsors and hold the Breton staff alive however that they had dwindled one after one other.
“I’ve one shot left. Only one,” mentioned Hubert. “I hope it is the precise one. I wish to imagine it.”
