time-trialing in the previous Bouygues Télécom uniform, 2007 In 2000, the team again became a professional team
Bonjour, still under the control of the
sporting director Bernaudeau. In 2003, the team became "Brioches La Boulangère", then "Bouygues Télécom" in 2005. The amateur team
Vendée U still acts as feeder team for the professional team. As
Bonjour and Brioches La Boulangère, the team gained prominence with promising young stars
Fabrice Salanson,
Thomas Voeckler and
Sylvain Chavanel. Salanson's death due to heart disease in 2003 was a blow to the team. Voeckler wore the yellow jersey as leader of the
general classification for 10 days in the
2004 Tour de France while also French national champion and became a national hero. The team competes mainly in French races. Chavanel left the team in 2005 to join
Cofidis. On 29 September 2009, Bbox Bouygues Telecom along with
Cofidis were not allowed to renew their ProTour licenses due to poor results.
2010–2011 In
their first season post-relegation, the team made showings at some grand tours, winning several stages and holding various classification jerseys. They had particular success in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. However, sponsorship questions and unmet desires to rejoin the top tier, continued to dog the team. In late 2010, following a lengthy struggle to secure a sponsor for the 2011 season,
Europcar was confirmed as the replacement, after assurances that then- French National Champion
Thomas Voeckler would remain with the team, but the guarantee of the team's future, so late that it necessitated an extension of the usual UCI deadline for licence application, was too late to retain the services of
Pierrick Fédrigo and
Nicolas Vogondy. Voeckler's contract is worth over 400,000 euros a year, second only to
Sylvain Chavanel among French riders, although he had been offered nearly twice as much to leave Bernadeau's team and join
Cofidis for the 2011 season. Following these sponsorship questions, the team
had its best year to date in 2011, winning stages in
Paris–Nice and the
Critérium du Dauphiné (in which they also took the team competition). In July, Thomas Voeckler won and held the overall lead in the
Tour of France for 10 days; support rider
Pierre Rolland received accolades for his defense of Voeckler, and later took a stage victory on the famous
Alpe d'Huez climb, leading to the race's overall
white jersey title. The team also fielded
Yohann Gène, the first black rider in the Tour. Europcar hoped that its new higher profile will allow it compete internationally in 2012 and sign more notable riders.
2012 season Team Europcar failed to achieve World Tour status for the second year. Nevertheless, the team showed strong early-season form, taking second at the renowned
Paris–Roubaix with
Sébastien Turgot, and then winning the next classic on the schedule, as Thomas Voeckler rode solo to victory for 30 kilometers at the
Brabantse Pijl. Following that result, the team continued their spring success with top-five showings from Voeckler in both Ardennes Week classics, the
Amstel Gold and
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The squad
sent to Gabon also enjoyed stage victories in late April from both Géne and Voeckler, while
Anthony Charteau won the overall lead for the third year running; and in Europe team sprinter
Matteo Pelucchi took a stage
in Dunkerque at the beginning of May. In April the team received a
wildcard invitation to the
Tour de France, along with three other French-registered teams. In the Tour, Europcar rider Voeckler won stages 10 and 16 and the
King of the Mountains jersey, and Pierre Rolland won stage 11.
2013 season Although negotiations with lead sponsor Europcar to extend their sponsorship beyond the end of the season have so far been unsuccessful, the team began their season with strong showings in some early races, seeing
Yohann Gène taking a stage as well as winning the overall classification at
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, the team's fourth successive overall victory in Gabon. The team later took three successive stage wins at the
Étoile de Bessèges, with
Bryan Coquard winning the second and fourth stages, and
Jérôme Cousin winning the third stage. Coquard took two wins at the
Tour de Langkawi, winning stages eight and nine. In the team's first World Tour appearance of the season, at
Paris–Nice,
Damien Gaudin achieved a victory in the race-opening prologue. Gaudin won the
Cholet-Pays de Loire single-day race, later in March, while
Anthony Charteau won the fourth stage of the
Tour de Normandie. In April,
Pierre Rolland won the penultimate stage of the
Circuit de la Sarthe, en route to winning the race overall.
Cyril Gautier won the
Tour du Finistère from an eight-rider breakaway move, while
Natnael Berhane won the queen stage of the
Tour of Turkey, finishing the race second overall the first place on the General Classification was awarded to Berhane after an anti-doping rule violation. Coquard's good performances saw him take the lead of the
UCI Europe Tour, and continued his form into may, winning the second stage of the
Tour de Picardie. In June,
David Veilleux soloed to an opening stage victory at the
Critérium du Dauphiné, while
Thomas Voeckler also won a stage at the race. Gène won the second stage of the
Route du Sud, and Voeckler took the queen stage of the race the following day, going on to win the race overall. Veilleux continued his form into the Boucles de la Mayenne, winning the race overall. In August,
Angelo Tulik achieved his first professional victory by winning the final stage of the inaugural Tour des Fjords. Coquard won his first one-day race, by winning the
Châteauroux Classic to take the lead of the
French Road Cycling Cup from rider
Anthony Geslin. Voeckler won the penultimate stage time trial of the
Tour du Poitou-Charentes, to take the overall lead of the race. He maintained the lead until the end, to win the race for the second time. ==Team roster==