It had been brewing for some time, but now it is official according to L'Équipe: Arkéa-B&B-Hotels will disappear from the cycling peloton after this season. Team manager Emmanuel Hubert has already informed his employees, reports the French sports newspaper.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels has been in a difficult position for some time. Ahead of the Tour de France, the French WorldTour outfit announced that both main sponsors would not renew their expiring contracts at the end of this year. Since then, team manager Emmanuel Hubert has been desperately trying to find new backers, but by early September he already sounded quite pessimistic.
The Frenchman was already talking about ‘the last chance’ back then, but now the curtain has truly fallen for Hubert and all other employees of Arkéa-B&B Hotels. “The end had been approaching and Emmanuel Hubert confirmed this Wednesday morning through a message to his staff,” L’Équipe wrote today.
“The team manager indicated that he failed to secure new sponsors for next season before the October 15 deadline (this is the day when cycling teams must submit the required documents regarding their license application to the UCI, ed.). The team thus cannot meet the UCI’s requirements.”
Uncertain future for many riders
During this year’s Tour de France—where Arkéa leader Kévin Vauquelin impressively finished seventh—there had been rumors that Hubert had found a new sponsor with which he could at least make a restart at ProTeam level. However, this is not the case, and Hubert is forced to pull the plug on the project.
For most riders and staff, this is very bad news, as they now have to look elsewhere for employment, although Hubert has been encouraging his employees to sign elsewhere over the past months. Vauquelin (INEOS Grenadiers), Jenthe Biermans (Cofidis), Amaury Capiot (Jayco AlUla), Luca Mozzato (Tudor) and Martin Tjøtta (Uno-X Mobility) have already secured contracts for 2026.
