FDJ UNITED-SUEZ

A superb team riding for a superb champion —this is how the Poitou-based structure is tackling its 21st season. Now the sole French representative in the WorldTour, it boasts a wealth of talent in addition to its totem rider, Demi Vollering. The big adventure started as a family affair. To give his daughter Emmanuelle Merlot, the 2002 French junior champion, the chance to continue her elite cycling career, the business owner Gatien Merlot and Serge Gautreau rallied the Vienne Department and the Futuroscope theme park to finance the creation of a team of the best French female cyclists, as no such structure existed at the time. The team was formed in 2006 and quickly made a name for itself with Marina Jaunâtre (seventh in the 2007 World Championships) and Carina Gauthard (2006 French U23 time trial champion).

In 2014, the team doubled its budget after the Poitou-Charentes Region (later to become Nouvelle-Aquitaine following the French territorial reform) came on board. Still, the real turning point came in 2017 with the support of FDJ, the long-standing sponsor of Marc Madiot's men's team. It continued to grow with the arrival of Suez in 2022. It recruited talent from abroad, such as the Dane Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (winner in Épernay in the inaugural edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift), the Italian Marta Cavalli (winner of the 2022 Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne) and the Australian Grace Brown, who landed a massive haul in 2024, including the team's first classic (Liège–Bastogne–Liège) and the Olympic and world time trial titles. Another watershed moment came the following winter with the recruitment of the French champion Juliette Berthet (née Labous) and, above all, Demi Vollering, the winner of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The Dutchwoman, who was only defeated by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in 2025, has racked up one victory after another this season and inspired the rest of the team to follow in her slipstream, from Franziska Koch (triumphant in Paris–Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France) to Élise Chabbey. FDJ–Suez has grown to become one of the top teams in the world without giving up its family atmosphere. Emmanuelle Merlot's husband, Stephen Delcourt, has served as the team manager since 2008.