AG2R La Mondiale

AG2R La Mondiale

Team information
UCI code	ALM
Registered	France
Founded	1992 (1992)
Discipline	Road
Status	UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles	Factor
Components	SRAM
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Vincent Lavenu
Team manager(s)	Laurent Biondi
Team name history
1992–1995 1996 1997–1999 2000–2007 2008–2014 2015–	Chazal Petit Casino Casino–AG2R Prévoyance AG2R Prévoyance Ag2r–La Mondiale AG2R La Mondiale
Jersey

AG2R La Mondiale (UCI team code: ALM) is a French cycling team with UCI ProTour team status. Its title sponsors are the AG2R Group, which is a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group, and the La Mondiale Group, which is a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance. The team is predominantly French.

History

Ag2r team photo at sign in during stage 11 of the 2006 Tour de France

In 1992 Vincent Lavenu, who had just retired from professional cycling, started a professional cycling team with Chazal as the main sponsor. Lavenu had previously organised sponsorship from Chazal of his last professional team. This sponsor stayed from 1992 to 1995. In 1996 Petit Casino, a chain of coffee shops in supermarkets, took over the sponsorship of the team. At this time the team was a second division team that relied on the public to sponsor the team. The team had the saying "Petit Casino- c’est votre equipe" – "it’s your team", which signified this involvement of the public.^[1] In 1997 Casino, the supermarket chain that contained the Petit Casino coffee shops, took over the sponsorship of the team and the budget increased substantially. Lavenu’s team could compete in the big races such as the classics.^[2] The team obtained successes with Alexander Vinokourov, Jaan Kirsipuu and Lauri Aus.

The insurance company Ag2r Prevoyance took over as the main sponsor in 2000.^[3] The team obtained further successes with Laurent Brochard, Jaan Kirsipuu and Jean-Patrick Nazon. In 2006, the team joined the UCI ProTour, following the signings of big cycling names Francisco Mancebo and Christophe Moreau. Fassa Bortolo's exit from the competition had freed a licence and AG2R was the only team left vying for the license, as Comunidad Valenciana voluntarily withdrew, while the proposed new team of former Fassa Bortolo sporting director Giancarlo Ferretti turned out to be without financial backing. Ag2r obtained success in the 2006 Tour de France with a stage win by Sylvain Calzati, and a day in the maillot jaune by Cyril Dessel.

Rinaldo Nocentini took the yellow jersey after stage 7 of the 2009 Tour de France after a successful breakaway in which fellow Ag2r-La Mondiale rider Christophe Riblon also took part and earned the daily combativity award. Nocentini retained the race leadership for eight stages, and Ag2r-La Mondiale also led the team classification from stage 7 to stage 11 and for one further day after stage 14.

In 2014, the team had great results at the Tour de France, winning a stage and having Jean-Christophe Péraud taking second place in the overall classification. In October of that year, it was announced that AG2R would continue to sponsor the team through 2018,^[4] at the 2016 Tour de France the sponsorship was extended a further two years - into the 2020 season.^[5]

Doping

On September 21, 2012, Steve Houanard tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test and was provisionally suspended.^[6][7][8]

On May 15, 2013, Sylvain Georges tested positive for the banned stimulant Heptaminol and failed to start stage 11 of the 2013 Giro d'Italia.^[9][10] Georges blamed the positive result on the freely available product 'Ginkor Fort' (made from Ginkgo biloba).^[11] On May 21 Georges 'B Sample' also tested positive for the stimulant^[12] causing the team to voluntarily remove itself from the 2013 Criterium du Dauphine in accordance with MPCC rules.^[13] As a result of the positive Georges was banned by the French Cycling Federation for 6 months.^[14]

On March 10, 2015, the UCI announced that Lloyd Mondory had tested positive for EPO on February 17 in an out of competition test. As a result, Mondory was suspended pending the outcome of his B sample analysis.^[15][16]

Team roster

As of 1 January 2017.

Rider Date of birth  Gediminas Bagdonas (LTU) (1985-12-26)26 December 1985 (aged 31)  Jan Bakelants (BEL) (1986-02-14)14 February 1986 (aged 30)  Rudy Barbier (FRA) (1992-12-18)18 December 1992 (aged 24)  Romain Bardet (FRA) (1990-11-09)9 November 1990 (aged 26)  Julien Bérard (FRA) (1987-07-02)2 July 1987 (aged 29)  François Bidard (FRA) (1992-03-19)19 March 1992 (aged 24)  Mikaël Cherel (FRA) (1986-03-17)17 March 1986 (aged 30)  Clément Chevrier (FRA) (1992-06-29)29 June 1992 (aged 24)  Nico Denz (GER) (1994-02-15)15 February 1994 (aged 22)  Axel Domont (FRA) (1990-08-07)August 7, 1990 (aged 25)  Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) (1980-08-20)20 August 1980 (aged 36)  Hubert Dupont (FRA) (1980-11-13)13 November 1980 (aged 36)  Julien Duval (FRA) (1990-05-27)27 May 1990 (aged 26)  Sondre Holst Enger (NOR) (1993-12-17)17 December 1993 (aged 23)  Mathias Frank (SUI) (1986-12-09)9 December 1986 (aged 30)

Rider Date of birth  Ben Gastauer (LUX) (1987-11-14)14 November 1987 (aged 29)  Cyril Gautier (FRA) (1987-09-26)26 September 1987 (aged 29)  Alexandre Geniez (FRA) (1988-04-16)16 April 1988 (aged 28)  Alexis Gougeard (FRA) (1993-03-05)5 March 1993 (aged 23)  Hugo Houle (CAN) (1990-09-27)27 September 1990 (aged 26)  Quentin Jaurégui (FRA) (1994-04-22)22 April 1994 (aged 22)  Pierre Latour (FRA) (1993-10-12)12 October 1993 (aged 23)  Matteo Montaguti (ITA) (1984-01-06)6 January 1984 (aged 32)  Oliver Naesen (BEL) (1990-09-16)16 September 1990 (aged 26)  Nans Peters (FRA) (1994-03-12)12 March 1994 (aged 22)  Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) (1982-11-30)30 November 1982 (aged 34)  Christophe Riblon (FRA) (1981-01-17)17 January 1981 (aged 35)  Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL) (1984-04-25)25 April 1984 (aged 32)  Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA) (1988-06-01)1 June 1988 (aged 28)

Major results

National champions

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AG2R La Mondiale.

• Official website
• Chambery CF