TOTALENERGIES

Twenty-one participations and as many emotion-packed years for Jean-René Bernaudeau's team, which never fails to push the right buttons in July. Its ties to the Vendée department, which in 2018 hosted the Grand Départ for the fifth time in 25 years, are the deepest regional roots of any team. Born in 2000, the team then known as Bonjour started to shine in its second participation, when it defended François Simon's yellow jersey between the Alps and the Pyrenees. The goal at the time was to prove that lesser-known French cyclists could still carve themselves a niche in the Tour right at the height of the Lance Armstrong era.

After renaming his team to La Boulangère as part of a bailout by local authorities, the "Gypsy of the Bocage" struck gold in 2004. Coming one week before the start of the Tour, Thomas Voeckler's first French championship was not just something close to a miracle. It heralded a ten-day odyssey in yellow, followed by another one seven years later, this time in Europcar colours but still in the same structure —one which has been repeatedly shaken by internal tensions and an uncertain future.

Curiously enough, JR's team did not win its first stage until Pierrick Fédrigo triumphed in Gap in 2006, in the team's seventh start (this time under its Bouygues Telecom avatar). Europcar was the lucky sponsor that got the team in extremis starting in 2011. Voeckler in yellow, Rolland in white after Charteau took the polka-dots in the previous edition, then Voeckler in the polka-dot and Rolland, again in the top 10 (eighth) in 2012 and a dogged attacker who often wore the polka-dot jersey in 2017… Voeckler retired at the end of the 2017 Tour de France. For the first time in the history of the team, a sprinter was supposed to fill the leader's boots. Bryan Coquard became sole leader in 2016, when the team still rode in the colours of Direct Énergie (the fifth title sponsor in its history). He scored two near-misses, one on the Champs-Élysées in 2015 and another in Limoges the year after that. His decision to quit the team after the relationship turned sour did little good to his career. Lilian Calmejane stepped up to the plate. The ambitious rider from the Tarn department marked his debut in 2017 with a win in the stage to Les Rousses and has kept the flame of Voeckler and Chavanel alive with his aggressive riding style. The team, now competing as Total Direct Energie, has failed to make an impact in the last three editions.

A FIGURE
20 : the number of days spent in yellow by Thomas Voeckler in his two stints in the jersey.