Decathlon CMA CGM will launch a new women’s professional team for the 2027 season, with the French structure set to begin in the UCI Women’s ProTeam category.
The project will form part of the organisation’s wider NewGen programme alongside its junior and Continental men’s teams, with the long-term objective of developing riders towards the Women’s WorldTour.
The new squad will be based at the team’s Performance Center in La Motte-Servolex in Savoie and will initially consist of 12 riders, supported by a dedicated staff while also sharing expertise and resources with the men’s WorldTour operation.
Decathlon CMA CGM confirmed the project in its official announcement, describing the women’s team as the next step in the ONE 2024–2030 strategic plan.
New women’s team will start at ProTeam level
Decathlon CMA CGM have chosen to enter women’s cycling directly at ProTeam level, the second tier of the international structure below the Women’s WorldTour.
That should give the team immediate access to a strong European calendar while providing a pathway towards the biggest races without requiring the organisation to begin at Continental level.
The structure of the professional women’s peloton, including the distinction between WorldTour and lower-tier teams, is covered in our guide to the 2026 Women’s WorldTour.
The Decathlon CMA CGM women’s team will sit within the NewGen programme led by Guillaume Bonnafond, with development positioned at the centre of the project rather than simply assembling an experienced roster capable of producing immediate results.
Bonnafond said the aim is to bridge the gap between the youth categories and the WorldTour, with recruitment expected to include riders from road racing as well as cyclocross and mountain biking.
“Our philosophy is based on training and talent identification,” he said. “We want to offer young talents from road cycling, cyclocross, and mountain biking an environment conducive to their development.”
The longer-term objective is clear.
“The goal is to build a sustainable team to join the WorldTour circuit in the coming years.”
Twelve riders planned for the first season
The inaugural roster will contain 12 riders, although no names have yet been announced.
Decathlon CMA CGM have outlined a staffing structure including a sports director, coach, two sports assistants, two mechanics, a doctor and physiotherapist, alongside nutrition, physical preparation and mental performance support.
The women’s squad will also have access to resources already used by the men’s operation through the Performance Center in Savoie.
That shared infrastructure is important.
Rather than creating a largely separate women’s programme carrying the same sponsors, Decathlon CMA CGM are building the new team into the existing performance structure. That should mean access to testing, coaching, equipment development and medical expertise already established around the men’s WorldTour team.
Van Rysel will provide the team’s equipment, continuing its central role across Decathlon CMA CGM’s racing programmes.
Development rather than immediate WorldTour status
The decision to start as a ProTeam gives the project a different shape from a sponsor simply taking over an existing Women’s WorldTeam.
There will be no automatic place in every Women’s WorldTour race. Instead, Decathlon CMA CGM will initially have to build its calendar through ProTeam racing, invitations and results while developing the squad towards a possible future place in the top tier.
That fits the emphasis on younger riders.
Rather than needing a roster capable of immediately challenging the strongest teams in the sport, Decathlon CMA CGM can use the opening seasons to build riders into that level. The current top tier is already increasingly competitive, with tighter registration rules, stronger budgets and greater pressure around points, as explored in our 2026 Women’s WorldTour teams guide.
Dominique Serieys, general manager of the Decathlon cycling structure, described the women’s team as part of an ambition to create a broader reference point within professional cycling.
“This new team extends the momentum we have initiated and strengthens our structure,” Serieys said. “It should allow a new generation of riders to reach the highest level and establish themselves there over the long term.”
French development pathway at the centre of the project
The new team will also work closely with the French Cycling Federation.
That creates an obvious development pathway for young French riders, particularly those moving out of junior racing or competing across several disciplines before specialising on the road.
Bonnafond’s reference to cyclocross and mountain biking is notable.
Women’s cycling increasingly includes riders who have developed through more than one discipline, and the new Decathlon structure appears willing to recruit on athletic potential rather than limiting itself to conventional road development.
The Performance Center in Savoie gives the project somewhere to bring those pathways together.
For a young rider, the attraction is likely to be less about joining another ProTeam and more about entering a system with direct access to WorldTour-level coaching, equipment and performance support.
Decathlon says women’s programme will influence Van Rysel development
The project also has a technical role for Decathlon and Van Rysel.
Decathlon president and CEO Javier López said equipment development with the women’s team will feed directly into the company’s wider product work.
“The innovations developed on the field alongside these athletes will directly inform the design of our products,” López said.
That gives the women’s squad a role similar to the men’s WorldTour programme, where racing provides both sporting visibility and a high-level testing environment.
López described the launch as a key part of Decathlon’s strategy and said the company wants to give the riders the same kind of development environment available through the wider performance structure.
For Van Rysel in particular, creating a women’s programme means having another elite racing platform through which bikes, clothing and equipment can be developed directly alongside female athletes.
CMA CGM sees project as a long-term investment
CMA CGM will remain alongside Decathlon as a title partner of the women’s project.
Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé described the team as part of the partners’ longer-term ambition in cycling rather than a short-term sponsorship extension.
“Through this team, we want to support a new generation of female cyclists towards the highest international level and contribute more broadly to the growth of women’s cycling,” he said.
The significant part is the intended timescale.
The team’s statements repeatedly refer to development, sustainability and eventually reaching the WorldTour rather than attaching a fixed deadline to promotion.
That gives the project room to develop the roster rather than immediately pursuing points simply to move up the hierarchy.
Women’s cycling growth strengthens the case for expansion
Decathlon CMA CGM are entering women’s cycling at a point when the commercial and sporting value of the discipline continues to rise.
The team highlighted the growth of the Tour de France Femmes audience in its launch, stating that around 26 million viewers watched the 2025 race, an increase of 7.4 million compared with 2024.
It also pointed to a 23% rise in registered female cyclists in France compared with 2023, alongside the continued expansion of women’s races, sponsorship and professional team structures.
That context matters.
The Tour de France Femmes is the most visible expression of the sport’s growth, but the deeper change is happening beneath it. Better-funded teams, stronger development pathways and a more professional second tier are gradually reducing the gap between promising young riders and the Women’s WorldTour.
Decathlon CMA CGM are positioning themselves directly inside that process.
The biggest question is who Decathlon sign
The structure is now clear.
The roster is not.
With 12 places available, Decathlon CMA CGM have room to combine emerging French talent with riders capable of giving the new team immediate credibility at ProTeam level.
The development emphasis suggests this will not simply be a collection of established WorldTour riders looking for contracts. Younger French riders are an obvious recruitment pool, but Bonnafond’s reference to cyclocross and mountain biking makes the potential search considerably wider.
There is also the attraction of the wider Decathlon setup.
A young rider choosing between a support role at WorldTour level and a more important position within a well-resourced ProTeam may see genuine value in the latter, particularly if Decathlon can demonstrate a clear route towards eventual WorldTour status.
Those first 12 signings will therefore reveal much more about the project than the launch announcement itself.
They will show whether Decathlon CMA CGM are building patiently around development, or whether they intend to accelerate the process with enough established talent to compete near the top of the ProTeam level immediately.
For 2027, the direction is already clear: build a women’s team inside the same performance structure as the men’s programme, develop riders rather than simply recruit results, and create a pathway intended eventually to reach the Women’s WorldTour.
