The dream of a territory (which was annexed to France in 1532 but has retained its distinct flavour) ever since Hinault retired came true with the participation since the 2014 Tour de France of an unashamedly Breton team whose main sponsor was the regional council, headed by statesman and great cycling aficionado Jean-Yves Le Drian. It was the first regional team from the West (more specifically, South—South-West) to take part in the Tour de France since 1961.
Its passion for cycling and four Tour winners (Lucien Petit-Breton, Jean Robic, Louison Bobet and Bernard Hinault) make Brittany a hotbed and, in some way, the cradle of French cycling. However, more than twenty years have gone by since the last time a Breton rider was in yellow (Stéphane Heulot in 1996). Before signing for the team from his home region, Warren Barguil ended a 23-year drought in Foix last year when he became the first Breton to win a stage since Pascal Lino in 1994.
It was born in 1994 as an amateur team under the initiative of industrialist and cycling lover Jean Floc'h, whose name still appears on the jersey. It became a professional squad in 2005 and entered the second division of the sport in 2011. Bretagne-Séché Environnement became Fortuneo, which has raced with a variety of co-sponsors. The team turned heads in its first three Tour de France starts thanks to joining numerous breakaways, Brice Feillu's 16th place overall in 2014 (and again in 2017) and the striking disqualification in 2015 of its Argentinian leader Eduardo Sepúlveda, who lost his nerve after a mechanical problem and hitched a ride in a car, as well as British sprinter Dan McLay bursting onto the stage with a third place in Montauban in 2016. Having Barguil as a leader in a Tour featuring four stages in Brittany, including a stage start in manager Emmanuel Hubert's home town of Fougères, takes the team to a whole new level.
05-01-2018
