Armée de terre, officially Équipe cycliste Armée de terre, () was a French

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

cycling team. It was sponsored by the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

and all the cyclists were professional soldiers. After competing with success in the French amateur structure, the team was registered as a Continental-level team from the beginning of the 2015 road cycling season until its disbandment at the end of the 2017 season.

History

Amateur racing

The team was founded in 2010 by David Lima Da-Costa following a long history of the French Army supporting soldiers in their cycling careers, with the team's first season of racing being the 2012 cycling season. It was founded with the intention of aiding in the Army's recruitment efforts. The team offered unusual benefits to its riders, such as a potential career in the Army, accommodation and training facilities rarely provided by a domestic team. The team received approximately 40 applications from riders wishing to join it for its first season, which included top-level amateurs and some professional riders. The hiring process was made more complicated by the requirement to enlist the riders as soldiers. The team had a budget that would have supported a Continental team, but the management initially chose to set the team up to compete in the French domestic championship, the Division Nationale. In the team's first season, it finished fourth in the second division of the Division Nationale and was promoted to the first division for the 2012 season. After 22 victories in 2012, the team finished a close second in the 2013 Coupe de France Division Nationale 1, finishing behind

Vendée U Vendée U is a French road cycling team established in 1991. The team is a national first-division (DN1) club team, acting as the development program for UCI ProTeam . Notable riders to have ridden for the team include Thomas Voeckler, Sylvain ...

despite leading for three quarters of the season. The team went on to dominate the 2014 domestic racing season in France, winning 61 races as they won the amateur Coupe de France.

Continental team

Having received continued support from the military leadership for another four years, the team began exploring promotion to become a

team, with support from civilian sponsors. The success of this application was announced in December 2014, with the team finding out through a leak to the press. This promotion was complicated by the rules about French cyclists. Riders on UCI Continental teams are not considered professionals by the UCI, but the rules of French cycling mandate professional contracts for them. Since the riders on Armée de terre are soldiers rather than professional cyclists, a special exception had to be made to allow the team to compete. The team retained several of its riders from the 2014 season into the international ranks, including French under-23 champion Yann Guyot. The riders continued to live in the team's base, two to each room; if a race did not provide accommodation to the riders, they stayed in the nearest military barracks. Each rider did military training in the two months of the off-season, learning a military specialism as well as training as a cyclist. The team's jersey in this as in previous years is a camouflage design promoting the team's military foundation. The team's bicycles, provided by

Mario Cipollini Mario Cipollini (; born 22 March 1967), often abbreviated to Cipo, is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance (his first pro win came in 1988, his last in 2005; 170 pro ...

's company, are also decorated with a camouflage pattern. The team made its debut at this level in the 2.1-ranked

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

. They then rode the 2015 Tour du Haut Var, where Quentin Pacher finished fifteenth overall and won the white jersey for the best young rider. The following weekend, the team achieved top 10 results in two French races: eighth place in the

Classic Sud-Ardèche A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

for Romain Combaud and seventh in the La Drôme Classic for Yann Guyot, who was the leading group behind the race winner,

Samuel Dumoulin Samuel Dumoulin (born 20 August 1980) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the , and teams. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI ProTeam . Career Dumoulin rode as an amateu ...

(). The team's first victory came at the

Tour du Loir-et-Cher The Tour du Loir-et-Cher is a cycling stage race that takes place in the Loir-et-Cher region of France. The race traditionally starts and finishes in the capital of Blois. Since at least 2009, the final stage has consisted of a 12-lap circuit ra ...

, where Guyot won stage 3 in a two-man sprint.

Team roster

Riders' military ranks

As the members of the Armée de terre team were all soldiers as well as cyclists, they all had military ranks. Most of them were graded as ''soldat de deuxième classe'', the lowest rank in the French Army. Barbas, Le Roux and Levasseur were ''soldats de première classe'', the next highest rank; Combaud and Guyot were ''caporaux'', while Sinner held the equivalent rank of ''brigadier''; Canal was a ''caporal-chef''. The highest-ranked rider was Julien Gonnet, who was a ''sergent-chef''.

Major wins

;2014 :Stage 1 Kreiz Breizh Elites, Kévin Lebreton :

Grand Prix des Marbriers The Grand Prix des Marbriers is a road bicycle race held annually in France. It was organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the ...

, Yann Guyot ;2015 :Stage 3

, Yann Guyot ;2016 :Stage 4

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, Yannis Yssaad :Stage 6 Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste trophée harmonie Mutuelle, Thomas Rostollan :Stage 4

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, Benoit Sinner ;2017 :

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, Yannis Yssaad :Stage 6

Damien Gaudin Damien Gaudin (born 20 August 1986) is a French former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2021 for the , and / squads. During his professional career, Gaudin took six victories – the 2013 Cholet-Pays de Loire an ...

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, Julien Loubet :

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:Stage 4

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: Paris–Mantes-en-Yvelines, Fabien Canal :Stage 3

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, Benjamin Thomas :Overall Paris–Arras Tour, Jordan Levasseur ::Stage 3, Jordan Levasseur :Stage 6 An Post Rás, Yannis Yssaad :Prologue

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:Stage 2

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, Yannis Yssaad :Stage 4

, Jordan Levasseur :Stage 1

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, Julien Loubet :Stages 1 & 3a

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, Yannis Yssaad :Stage 1

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a ...

, Benjamin Thomas :Prologue Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta,

:Stage 3

Volta a Portugal The Volta a Portugal (), also known as Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta (), is an annual multi-stage road bicycle racing competition held in Portugal. The competition takes place during a two-week span. History The competition started in 1927, alt ...

, Bryan Alaphilippe

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armee de terre (cycling team) Cycling teams based in France UCI Continental Teams (Europe) Cycling teams established in 2011 Military sports clubs and teams