without a buyer, the French Arkéa-B&B Hotels team on the verge of disappearing

The Breton team did not find new investors after the withdrawal of its two sponsors and was unable to submit its application to the International Federation on Wednesday to field a professional team in 2026.

Arkéa-B&B Hotels at the end of the road. Despite the good results of Kévin Vauquelin in the Tour de France this summer, and the calls from his director Emmanuel Hubert to find new sponsors, the Breton team is on the verge of disappearing. This Wednesday, October 15, the deadline set by the International Cycling Union (UCI) for the submission of applications in order to start again for the 2026 season, no action has been taken.

“I haven’t submitted anything to the UCI because I don’t have any letter or other intention. It’s becoming very delicate”explained the general manager of the Breton team, Emmanuel Hubert, by message to AFP, after having warned his employees. One of its former leaders, Warren Barguil, wrote on his Instagram account: “It's hard to say that it's all over for this great team.”.

Born in 2005 by taking over the foundations of an amateur team created by Jean Floc'h, the team has proudly claimed a Breton identity during its 20 years of existence. It was, in turn, called Bretagne-Jean Floc'h, Bretagne-Armor Lux, Bretagne-Schuller, Bretagne-Séché Environnement, Fortuneo-Vital Concept, Fortuneo-Oscaro, Fortuneo-Samsic, Arkéa-Samsic then Arkéa-B&B Hotels. After starting at the continental level, the third level of professional cycling, the team became a Pro Team (second level), then even a World Tour team, the elite of world cycling, in 2023.

Made up mainly of French riders, it also attracted renowned elements such as Nairo Quintana, Andre Greipel and Arnaud Démare at the end of their careers, and saw the emergence of Warren Barguil and Kévin Vauquelin. The Norman rider also brought him his greatest victory, the only one on a Grand Tour, on the second stage of the Tour de France 2024. He also climbed onto the podium of the Flèche Wallonne in 2024 and 2025. The Italian rider Lucas Mozzato also allowed Arkéa-B&B Hotels to show his jersey on the podium of the legendary Tour of Flanders in 2024 (2nd).

It is therefore paradoxically after the two best seasons in its history that the Breton team is approaching disappearance, since its two sponsors did not wish to renew their partnership. Emmanuel Hubert, who arrived as sports director in 2012, then became team manager in 2014, hoped to find new sponsors who could maintain the Breton roots, “because it’s part of the cycling landscape and the public needs to have this style of French team to identify”he assured franceinfo: sport during the Tour de France. But faced with the lack of requests, he also recognized that “If tomorrow morning, a State comes to save the team, I will take”referring to the UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain-Victorious, or even Astana.

No investor met the criteria to take over the team, which had 150 employees, including 27 riders among the men, 13 among the women, and 12 among the youth. If some have already found other teams, like Kévin Vauquelin, who signed with Ineos-Grenadiers, others could find themselves left behind, experiencing the same situation that the staff of the B&B Hotels-KTM team had experienced when it disappeared in 2022.