AG2R La Mondiale

Ag2r La Mondiale
Team information
UCI code ALM
Registered France
Founded 1992 (1992)
Discipline Road
Status UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles Focus[1]
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–		 Chazal
Petit Casino
Casino–AG2R Prévoyance
AG2R Prévoyance
AG2R–La Mondiale

Jersey

AG2R La Mondiale (UCI team code: ALM, formerly AG2R Prévoyance) 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.

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.[2] In 1997 Casino, the supermarket chain that contained the coffee shops called Petit Casino, 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[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 bearing the outcome of his B sample analysis.[15][16]

Team roster

As of 1 January 2015.[17]
Rider Date of birth
 Jan Bakelants (BEL) (1986-02-14)14 February 1986 (aged 28)
 Romain Bardet (FRA) (1990-11-09)9 November 1990 (aged 24)
 Julien Bérard (FRA) (1987-07-02)2 July 1987 (aged 27)
 Carlos Betancur (COL) (1989-10-13)13 October 1989 (aged 25)
 Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA) (1987-06-23)23 June 1987 (aged 27)
 Mickaël Cherel (FRA) (1986-03-17)17 March 1986 (aged 28)
 Maxime Daniel (FRA) (1991-06-05)5 June 1991 (aged 23)
 Nico Denz (GER) (1994-02-15)15 February 1994 (aged 20)
 Axel Domont (FRA) (1990-08-07)7 August 1990 (aged 24)
 Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) (1980-08-20)20 August 1980 (aged 34)
 Hubert Dupont (FRA) (1980-11-13)13 November 1980 (aged 34)
 Ben Gastauer (LUX) (1987-11-14)14 November 1987 (aged 27)
 Damien Gaudin (FRA) (1986-08-20)20 August 1986 (aged 28)
 Alexis Gougeard (FRA) (1993-03-05)5 March 1993 (aged 21)
 Patrick Gretsch (GER) (1987-04-07)7 April 1987 (aged 27)
Rider Date of birth
 Hugo Houle (CAN) (1990-09-27)27 September 1990 (aged 24)
 Quentin Jaurégui (FRA) (1994-04-22)22 April 1994 (aged 20)
 Blel Kadri (FRA) (1986-09-03)3 September 1986 (aged 28)
 Pierre-Roger Latour (FRA) (1993-10-12)12 October 1993 (aged 21)
 Julian Kern (GER) (1989-12-28)28 December 1989 (aged 25)
 Sébastien Minard (FRA) (1982-06-12)12 June 1982 (aged 32)
 Lloyd Mondory (FRA) (1982-04-26)26 April 1982 (aged 32)
 Matteo Montaguti (ITA) (1984-01-06)6 January 1984 (aged 30)
 Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) (1977-09-25)25 September 1977 (aged 37)
 Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA) (1977-05-22)22 May 1977 (aged 37)
 Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) (1982-11-30)30 November 1982 (aged 32)
 Christophe Riblon (FRA) (1981-01-17)17 January 1981 (aged 33)
 Sébastien Turgot (FRA) (1984-04-11)11 April 1984 (aged 30)
 Johan Vansummeren (BEL) (1981-02-04)4 February 1981 (aged 33)
 Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA) (1988-06-01)1 June 1988 (aged 26)

    Major results

    National champions

    1997
    French Road Race, Stéphane Barthe
    Belgian Road Race, Marc Streel
    1998
    Estonian Road Race, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    1999
    French Time Trial, Gilles Maignan
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Estonian Road Race, Jaan Kirsipuu
    2000
    Estonian Road Race, Lauri Aus
    Estonian Time Trial, Lauri Aus
    2001
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Belgian Road Race, Ludovic Capelle
    2002
    Estonian Road Race, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Irish Road Race, Mark Scanlon
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    2003
    Irish Road Race, Mark Scanlon
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Spanish Time Trial, Inigo Bernardez
    2004
    Estonian Road Race, Erki Putstep
    Estonian Time Trial, Jaan Kirsipuu
    Ukrainian Time Trial, Yuriy Krivtsov
    2006
    Estonian Road Race, Erki Pütsep
    2007
    French Road Race, Christophe Moreau
    2008
    Estonian Time Trial, Tanel Kangert
    Moldovan Road Race, Alexandre Pliuschin
    2009
    Irish Road Race, Nicolas Roche
    2010
    Swiss Road Race, Martin Elmiger
    2012
    Luxembourg Time Trial, Ben Gastauer
    2014
    Belarusian Road Race, Yauheni Hutarovich
    2015
    Canada Time Trial, Hugo Houle

    References

    1. ↑ "FOCUS returning to World Tour with AG2R LA MONDIALE 2013". Focus-Bikes.com (Focus Bikes). 26 September 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
    2. ↑ "Hung Up in Picardy, Hoping for Bigger Things". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
    3. ↑ "Cycling team rolls on to the big time". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-08-26. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
    4. ↑ "Histoire de l’equipe cycliste Ag2r Prevoyance". Ag2r non official supporters. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
    5. ↑ "News shorts: AG2R renews through 2018, Androni on Kuota". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 14 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
    6. ↑ Cycling News. "Houanard provisionally suspended for EPO". Cyclingnews.com.
    7. ↑ "Steve Houanard provisionally suspended after A-sample positive for EPO". velonation.com.
    8. ↑ "Ag2r suspends Houanard after positive EPO test". VeloNews.com.
    9. ↑ Cycling News. "Sylvain Georges positive for Heptaminol". Cyclingnews.com.
    10. ↑ "Sylvain Georges returns positive A sample for Heptaminol, out of Giro d’Italia". velonation.com.
    11. ↑ Cycling News. "Georges takes blame for positive doping control". Cyclingnews.com.
    12. ↑ Cycling News. "Georges' B Sample also positive, UCI confirms". Cyclingnews.com.
    13. ↑ Peter Cossins. "Ag2r confirm they won’t ride Dauphiné". Cyclingnews.com.
    14. ↑ Cycling News. "UCI wants Georges' ban extended to two years". Cyclingnews.com.
    15. ↑ "Ag2r's Lloyd Mondory positive for EPO - VeloNews.com". VeloNews.com.
    16. ↑ Cycling News. "Mondory returns adverse analytical finding for EPO". Cyclingnews.com.
    17. ↑ "AG2R La Mondiale (ALM) – FRA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 1 January 2015.

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