L'Equipe reported it well: Vincent Lavenu is no longer the team manager of the Decathlon-Ag2R La Mondiale. And even if it was foreseeable that the change would come, nobody expected that towards its founder it would come to this a dismissal like the one that took place. The time for it to close the Tour de France In Nice, the French newspaper reconstructs, and the team's founder received an email announcing the opening of the dismissal process. At the same time, he was asked to return company phone, computer and car.
We had spoken with him in France, reasoning about the lackluster performances of his boys compared to the glittering ones of the Giro And it made us realize that the team's atmosphere was suddenly no longer so peaceful. However, nothing suggested the outcome that would unfold.
The Chazal-Vanille
Lavenu founded that team in 1992 with a French cured meat manufacturer. It is the Chazal-Vanille of the giant Kirsipuu, which over the years becomes the Casino and then from 2000 to 2023 has as its first name Ag2R, partnered with Citroën from 2021 to 2022. Each time Lavenu is there to tell the story, build it, keep it together. Each time with the seriousness of an old-fashioned man, who, on the threshold of 68 years of age, already thought it was time for retirement, but he had certainly hoped he could manage the exitPerhaps by giving his daughter Magali, initially the team's press officer, the role of responsibility she's been talking about for some time. Maybe by launching a women's team. There was no shortage of projects.
Instead, they summoned him. Across the table, he found the new director general, Dominique Seryes, and the secretary general, Philippe Chevallier, whom he had hired as his deputy. No one has said exactly how the meeting went, but It seems that at the end Lavenu felt ill and for this reason an ambulance from the Fire Brigade was called. Since then, Lavenu has entrusted the management of the matter to a lawyer.
The Bonnamour Case
L'Equipe has tried to reconstruct with contacts within the team and it seems that the trigger for the dismissal was reportedly Bonnamour's doping case. The 29-year-old French rider was suspended by the UCI after the Tour Down Under due to anomalies in his biological passport and fired from the team on March 26. Lavenu was allegedly blamed for the delay in informing his new bosses of the ongoing situation.The fact is that, with surprising speed compared to usual, the dismissal took place, his name disappeared from the team's organizational chart, where he was now listed as sporting director and no longer as manager.
The transition had in fact taken place last July with the appointment of Dominique Serieys by the management of AG2R La Mondiale, even if (away from prying eyes) the problems had begun three years earlier.
Ag2R-Citroen is born
To allow its team to grow and compete internationally, Lavenu built new headquarters in 2020. It is the Ag2R-Citroen project, described as a French marvel and as breakthrough significant, with the arrival of riders like Greg Van Avermaet. Instead, the problems began.
To get him on the road, Lavenu goes into debt himself, and that's when the problems begin. For unannounced reasons, Citroen suddenly activates the withdrawal clause after three of the five years for which it has signed. While Ag2R appoints a new general manager, little inclined to support the French manager's ambitions.
The cards on the table
It marks the end of an important and long-standing partnership in cycling history. An investment, certainly, but also a hobby for the big sponsors, which suddenly turns into a mere business. For this reason Ag2R La Mondiale puts its cards on the table and offers two choices. Take over the company, or leaveThe proposed purchase price, L'Equipe reconstructs, would be 8.000 euros: a figure that surprised even the two riders present at the meetingThe change in strategy is justified by the need to move towards less romantic sports clubs, but ones capable of holding their own against the hyper-professionalization of sport.
Lavenu is in the corner. He has one hundred employees to protect and understands that the exit of Ag2R La Mondiale would be dramatic. Therefore, the contract is signed.Lavenu remains in the position of general manager, but at the same time he must sign a modification to the contract due to which he loses all signing power.
End of the story
It's a clear break with the past of teams built and run by a single man, the present that sweeps away tradition. Certainly with sustainable motivations, but in ways that leave much to be desired. Some staff members preferred to leave the team last year, a couple of employees filed a lawsuit against the company, including a sporting director in the team since 1994.
The structure of the race service remains from the previous management, for which the company now pays rent to Lavenu. However, according to L'Equipe lthe next strategy foresees that the insurance company wants to reorganise the team's structure and then sell it definitively to Decathlon, with the operational headquarters then moving to Northern France. One chapter in French cycling ends, another begins. History will ultimately tell which of the two chapters was the more fascinating and worthy of being told.
