Komugi-Grand Est is in danger, at least for the year 2025. The Women's Continental has lost its main sponsor, namely Komugi, and the balance is therefore threatened to start again in the Continental next year, since the idea of ProTeam status has been abandoned. If the budget to find to leave is not colossal, the decision should be made in the next two weeks for President Laurent Goglione and his team. In the meantime, its runners have been released for several weeks. If the team does not leave again, it should nevertheless be the time of one season, with the idea of relaunching with a bigger project in 2026. At the microphone of DirectVeloLaurent Goglione explained the situation.
DirectVelo: What is the situation this winter?
Laurent Goglione: We are waiting, because Komugi will not leave. We are looking for a sponsor, we were on two or three big tracks, but there is a risk of not leaving. We are really looking. We also asked for a little delay. We had released the girls because I didn't want them to be left with nothing if it didn't start again, I wanted it to be clean. It’s also a great promotion at St-Michel for Ségolène Thomas. Whether in data or performance, it has something. She is one of the best climbers in France for the future, she is in a high ranking in Europe. On tough races with bumpy finishes like in the Pyrenees and Ardèche, it will be there.
What is the state of mind currently?
I am a little sad to see that some have not returned, I am thinking in particular of Victoire (Joncheray) who had a good, regular season, with quite a few UCI points along the way. She could be a great teammate on a big team. It surprises me, maybe she has flown under the radar. In any case it is not deserved. It's a little different for Laury Milette, but she deserved to focus on her case (she signed up with KDM-Pack, Editor’s note). But the girls are free. Many are on hold, with the number of teams disappearing. Economic conditions are complicated in France. We see it in N1 among men, and among girls on the Conti statutes. That doubles the budget compared to a foreign team. So when we see that foreigners stop without these conditions… In France, below €500,000 in real money, you don't leave. We don't have them. So I'm not taking the risk.
“IT’S FINDABLE, BUT IT’S COMPLICATED”
When will the decision be made?
In the next two weeks, it will be crucial. I'm waiting for answers. If that didn't happen, we might have a blank year. I have a big support, David Roux, who is one of the team's patrons and who has been with me since the beginning. He wants to continue to make life. The idea is also to say to ourselves that if we go on standby to find something during the year, we will do it. We are on two or three big hits for 2026, which should have materialized in 2025 in fact. It's not what I like the most, because losing a season is not pleasant. The staff no longer has a job so you lose it, the runners the same. You've built things… We're doing everything to get going again, currently €100,000 is missing. It's findable, but it's complicated given the situation.
And if the team leaves, isn't it late to complete everything for 2025?
The company has been created for two years, the basic structure is durable and will remain just in case. We know that we can leave with the staff since they are paid until December 31. Girls, there are a lot of them on the market, including ours who haven't changed again. Even if we leave with eight girls, we will have four or five from home, we have a few disappointed girls who didn't come, etc. I think that given the density of girls in Europe, it is not difficult to put together a team. The contract with the Grand Est is renewed, our partnerships are established. We're not on the street, we don't have enough cash, otherwise things are going well. Everything will not be simple, we will be a team that leaves late, we have not reserved the training course, not the jerseys etc. Maybe we won't start until March, but we'll finish later.
“IN AUGUST WE TOLD THE UCI THAT WE WERE STOPPING THE IDEA OF PROTEAM”
The idea of ProTeam therefore also falls through for the moment…
We had forgotten, financially we were not capable. We have the budget itself, with €800,000, that's enough in ProTeam. But bank guarantees quickly come to weigh you down. They ask for a percentage of payroll blocked in an account. It’s around €130-150,000. Suddenly, removing them, it stings. We couldn't do that. I couldn't take that out of my budget and lock it in an account and not use it. Besides, maybe it's the easy excuse after the fact, but maybe we weren't mature enough either. In terms of performances, we had an average season. We didn't explode, we didn't win any big races. We still had to learn. You have to be a mature company, also from an administrative point of view. We had already had a hard time creating the company, the contracts, the mutual insurance companies, the retirement funds, occupational health… I learned how to do that in a year. With Lucas (Leblond) we said that it might not be so bad to do one more year in Conti. We entered the game in June and in August we told the UCI that we were stopping the ProTeam idea.
The great objective of participating in the Tour becomes darker with…
That complicates things, even if there will remain a shooting window. Today's French ProTeams are already at the Tour. Even with the foreigners, they were already there overall. Maybe there will be a place or two for the best Conti. We were super disappointed not to be there this year, it was in Lorraine, we held our own, a Ségolène (Thomas) could have performed well in the mountains. It didn't help us with sponsors. Now it's another approach, we discuss with a sponsor telling him that we are going on a three-year cycle, with a Conti year, a ProTeam year, and the Tour in year three. And if we only come back in 2026, we will probably apply directly.
“MAYBE THE RIGHT TIME TO REINVENT YOURSELF”
Another aspect, the organizations will also change, with the Tour de la Mirabelle which takes place over one day…
With Team Macadam's and Mirabelles Organizations, we tried to reinvent ourselves. We have made an observation over the past two years. We had a calendar problem in May. We were in a festive city calendar which did not suit us. All towns have their fairs, flea markets, festivals. When you have to block, provide parking, etc., it sometimes sucks (smile). It was getting worse and worse. And sportingly we had difficulty growing the field, with the Mayenne, the Tour of Norway, the Alpes Isère etc. We have a monstrous number of competitors. The third point is that in terms of partnerships, we had difficulty providing a return on investment. We can't get past TV. We would have to go from 2.2 to 2.1. Over four days, it’s €200-250,000. We can't afford it. At the same time, we have the Mirabelle Cyclosportive which is exploding. It becomes a beautiful and big cyclosportive. There is a popular side that suits us well. For the Mirabelle Classic, we wanted to upgrade it to Class 2 so that our girls could be at the start.
These three events are now combined in one and the same weekend, from September 26 to 28…
We thought about the Belgian system, with Friday the men, Saturday the girls, and Sunday the popular, we are on all three tables. We can have the same departures, big arrivals, an identical crossing point on the routes, etc. We have an idea in mind with Cédric Delandre, who is my organizational partner. If we put beer draws, shows, activities etc. at the top of the Sion hill, Alpe d'Huez in Lorraine (smile), all the routes can go there, we can even get the girls up there. The partners like it because they communicate on three different styles, three Classics. We want to be a week before the World Championship, even if it will not be in 2025. This allows certain teams to also duplicate the women's and men's teams. And maybe there's a way to find people to pay for TV, that would be the idea. Maybe it's a good time to reinvent yourself.
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