From TotalEnergies to XEFI: French team confirms its future after months of uncertainty

The historic French team of Jean-René Bernaudeau has managed to secure its continuity in professional cycling. The technology company XEFI will replace TotalEnergies as the main sponsor for the next three seasons, ending several months of uncertainty about the future of one of the most veteran structures in the peloton.

XEFI replaces TotalEnergies and guarantees a three-year project

The French formation announced this Tuesday, November 10, an agreement with XEFI, a company specialized in IT services and data centers that will become its main sponsor from 2027 until the end of 2029.

The team will compete directly under the name XEFI, maintaining the structure of Vendée Cyclisme, presided over by Jean-René Bernaudeau and directed by Stéphane Heulot.

The agreement comes at a particularly delicate moment. TotalEnergies had announced its withdrawal as a sponsor at the end of 2026, and the search for a replacement had dragged on for months, casting doubt on the continuity of the project.

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The uncertainty even reached the registration process for the upcoming season. As we reported after the publication of the first list of UCI teams for 2027, TotalEnergies was not among the ProTeam formations that had completed the required documentation within the first deadline, a situation that also affected other structures like Picnic PostNL and Jayco AlUla, the latter being of WorldTour category.

The new sponsor allows for a more secure approach to the final registration, although the official confirmation from the UCI, scheduled for December 8, is still pending.

According to Domestique, the team would have a budget of between 10 and 12 million euros to face this new stage, although that figure has not been officially confirmed.

Jean-René Bernaudeau has celebrated the agreement and highlighted the work done over the past months: "This project is not about moving forward blindly, but about giving meaning back to elite sport, staying true to our convictions and our commitment to transparency".

For his part, Sacha Rosenthal, founder and president of XEFI, has shown his personal involvement with the project: "Seeing XEFI on the jersey of this team will be a moment of enormous emotion".

"We will have ambitions and will be by their side in difficult moments. I want the entire XEFI family, in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and the overseas territories, to be excited about this team".

XEFI is a French company based in Lyon, with about 2,000 employees and a presence in several European countries, including Spain. Its revenue in 2025 was around 400 million euros and aims to reach 1 billion by 2028.

New sponsor, new bikes, and a roster to rebuild

The arrival of XEFI will not be the only significant change for the French structure in 2027. Just a few weeks ago, it was confirmed that the Chinese brand Pardus will be its new bike supplier, replacing Cube after just one season of collaboration.

The Asian manufacturer has also signed a three-year contract, until 2029, and will supply both road and time trial bikes. In this way, XEFI and Pardus will jointly start a completely new phase for the team.

In the sporting aspect, the continuity of the team will not prevent a deep renewal of its roster. The uncertainty about the future of TotalEnergies caused several riders to seek other options, including Anthony Turgis and Jordan Jegat, who already have new destinations for 2027.

On the other hand, Mathis Le Berre, Jason Tesson, Thomas Gachignard, and Joris Delbove are among the cyclists expected to continue, while several riders from the development team Vendée U could make the jump to the professional team.

The sporting reconstruction will also include Tony Gallopin, who has been appointed as the main sports director for the upcoming season.

The goal will be to maintain the structure's presence in the major international races, especially in the Tour de France, a race in which the team has participated continuously since the year 2000.

After competing under names like Bonjour, La Boulangère, Bouygues Telecom, Europcar, Direct Énergie, and TotalEnergies, Bernaudeau's formation will face another identity change in 2027. This time, the agreement comes with the reassurance of having a committed main sponsor for three seasons.