Émilie Fortin will join Tenvels Le Dévoluy for the 2027 season, bringing international experience and an attacking racing style to the developing French women’s project.
The 27-year-old Canadian moves across from Minimax Cycling Team and becomes one of the more experienced additions to a squad based in the Dévoluy massif in the Hautes-Alpes. Tenvels Le Dévoluy are continuing to build their roster as the structure targets a step up in status for 2027.
Fortin has raced extensively across Europe and North America, with previous spells at Cynisca Cycling, CJ O’Shea Racing and Bizkaia-Durango. Her biggest victory came at the 2023 Clásica de Almería, where she escaped late to claim her first elite win and Cynisca’s first victory as a professional team.
“Joining Tenvels Le Dévoluy means becoming part of an ambitious, human project rooted in an exceptional training area. I’m motivated to bring my experience, my energy and contribute to the team’s collective goals.”
Fortin brings experience from several international programmes
Born in Laval, Québec, Fortin has spent much of her career racing away from Canada.
She first stepped into the UCI Continental peloton with Bizkaia-Durango before joining Cynisca Cycling for the American team’s debut season in 2023. That move produced the strongest results of her career so far.
Fortin’s breakthrough came at the Clásica de Almería in February 2023. Rather than waiting for the reduced bunch behind, she attacked late and held off the chase to take a solo victory.
ProCyclingUK covered Fortin’s breakthrough win at the 2023 Clásica de Almería, which made her the inaugural winner of the women’s race as well as giving Cynisca its first professional victory.
That season developed into much more than one result. Fortin also finished third overall at the Joe Martin Stage Race, including third on a stage, and eighth at the Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar.
Those performances established the characteristics Tenvels are now looking to add to their roster. Fortin is comfortable on rolling terrain, willing to spend long periods in breakaways and at her best when a race rewards initiative rather than waiting for a conventional finish.
Fortin has rebuilt through Minimax in 2026
After two seasons with Cynisca, Fortin joined CJ O’Shea Racing for 2025 before moving to Minimax Cycling Team this year.
Her 2026 campaign has included 11th at the Grand Prix du Morbihan Féminin, 15th at the Alpes Grésivaudan Classic and 19th at Brabantse Pijl, giving her a solid run of results across selective one-day races.
She also finished 23rd overall at the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées.
There has been no repeat yet of the victory she produced in Almería three years ago, but her results continue to point towards the same type of rider. Fortin is at her most useful when the course is too difficult for the pure sprinters but does not become a race exclusively for specialist climbers.
That profile should give Tenvels options across the French one-day calendar as well as on a broader international programme.
Tenvels want Fortin to race aggressively
The team’s description of Fortin focused heavily on how she races rather than simply the results she has accumulated.
Tenvels highlighted her ability to animate races and spend long periods on the attack, viewing that willingness to take responsibility as particularly valuable within a developing squad.
“Émilie arrives with real international experience and an attacking mentality. Her victory in Almería, her ability to animate races and her command of French make her an ideal recruit for our group and our development objectives.”
That experience should also be useful away from Fortin’s own opportunities.
At 27, she is still at an age where there is scope to chase better results herself, but she also arrives having raced for several different professional structures and across a wide range of international calendars.
For younger riders moving into higher-level races for the first time, that experience can matter.
Fortin knows what is required to position through bigger fields, race aggressively without wasting energy and recognise the moments when a breakaway has a realistic chance of succeeding.
The Almería win remains the model for what Fortin can offer
Fortin’s 2023 victory is particularly relevant because of how she achieved it.
She did not win by waiting for a sprint or relying on a team to control the closing kilometres. She created the opportunity herself.
After attacking late, Fortin stayed clear while a strong group behind struggled to organise quickly enough. Alison Jackson finished second and Floortje Mackaij third, but neither was able to bring the Canadian back.
That willingness to anticipate the favourites is valuable for a team still developing its position within the women’s peloton.
Tenvels are unlikely to arrive at every major race with the rider everybody else expects to control. Racing from the front and putting riders into difficult moves gives the team another route towards results.
Fortin already has evidence that she can make that approach work.
Tenvels Le Dévoluy continue building for 2027
Fortin’s arrival forms part of the wider development of the Tenvels Le Dévoluy structure.
Based in the Région Sud and closely connected to the mountainous Dévoluy area, the project is building towards a higher level of competition while retaining its emphasis on rider development.
The 2027 roster is therefore beginning to combine younger riders with recruits who already understand international professional racing.
Fortin fits that second group.
She brings experience from Spanish, American, British and Canadian-backed structures, has raced at WorldTour level and already owns a UCI one-day victory. At the same time, she remains motivated by the prospect of adding to her own results rather than moving into a purely mentoring role.
No length has been announced for Fortin’s agreement beyond her arrival for the 2027 season.
Her move will be tracked alongside the other confirmed deals shaping next year’s peloton in ProCyclingUK’s women’s cycling transfers hub.
For Tenvels Le Dévoluy, Fortin adds exactly the sort of rider a growing programme can use: experienced enough to guide others, but still ambitious enough to attack when her own opportunity appears.
