St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 will focus its professional resources on its women’s team from 2027, marking a major strategic shift for one of French cycling’s most historic clubs.
CM Aubervilliers 93 Cyclisme confirmed the decision in a statement on 12th May, explaining that the club will concentrate its professional project around its UCI Women’s ProTeam as it adapts to the changing demands of modern cycling. The move brings an end to a long men’s professional chapter, but also underlines the growing strength and importance of the women’s programme, which has become the clearest route for the club’s future ambitions.
Aubervilliers shifts focus to women’s cycling
The club’s decision is significant because of its history. CM Aubervilliers 93 has been part of French cycling for more than 70 years, first as one of the country’s leading amateur structures in the 1980s and 1990s, then through its men’s professional team from 1994, and later through the women’s team’s move into the professional ranks in 2022.
That women’s step now becomes the centre of the entire professional project. From 2027, the club will focus its professional means on one team: the women’s squad currently registered as a UCI Women’s ProTeam.
The club said the decision reflects the reality of a professional cycling landscape that has changed sharply in recent years. The level of investment, staffing, performance support, race organisation and calendar expectations has risen, and the statement made clear that previous models are no longer enough.
“The demands of modern cycling continue to rise every day,” the club said. “The successes of yesterday are no longer achievable under today’s conditions, and they will become entirely out of reach in the future without deep structural change.”
Women’s team becomes the club’s professional engine
The decision comes at a point where the women’s team is moving from strength to strength. Since stepping into professionalism in 2022, the squad has built a presence on the biggest stage and has not missed an edition of the Tour de France Femmes.
That consistency is important. For a team outside the Women’s WorldTour, retaining visibility in the Tour de France Femmes is one of the clearest markers of sporting relevance. It gives riders, sponsors and the wider club a stage that the men’s side could no longer access in the same way.
The club framed the women’s team as the future “locomotive” of the organisation, a professional structure capable of carrying visibility, ambition and inspiration for the wider cycling project in Aubervilliers and Seine-Saint-Denis.
That is a notable statement in a sport where women’s teams have too often been treated as additions to men’s projects rather than as the primary professional focus. Here, the direction is reversed. Aubervilliers is choosing to build its elite future around the women’s squad.
A historic men’s chapter closes
The emotional weight of the decision comes from what the men’s team represented. Aubervilliers 93, known affectionately as “les p’tits gars d’Auber”, was created 32 years ago and became one of the most recognisable French professional structures below the very top budget level.
Led for three decades by Stéphane Javalet, the men’s team raced five editions of the Tour de France, won a Tour stage and carried the French champion’s jersey. Its identity was built around resilience, development and a distinctly local French cycling culture, one that often punched above its weight against larger teams.
That makes the 2027 shift more than a restructuring note. It is the end of a long-running men’s professional story, but also a decision designed to keep the club relevant rather than spread resources too thinly across an increasingly demanding landscape.
Gaudry: ‘Our journey is not over’
Stephan Gaudry, CEO of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 / CMA93, said the decision had been taken with full awareness of the club’s history.
“I am deeply attached to the history of our team and our club,” Gaudry said. “I joined the organisation in 1989 and, through different roles, I have witnessed the evolution of both the structure and cycling as a whole. I fully understand the significance of the decision we are making for the future.”
Gaudry acknowledged that the club is closing a chapter that included some of the biggest moments in its history.
“We are closing a chapter spanning several decades, during which we competed in the world’s greatest races, won a stage of the Tour de France, and had the honour of wearing the French national champion’s jersey,” he said.
But he also made clear that the move should not be read as retreat. Instead, the club sees it as a way to strengthen the professional structure it believes can carry the project forward.
“Our journey is not over, it continues as we always have: with courage, humility, and ambition,” Gaudry said. “Refocusing our professional activity on women’s cycling will allow us to approach the future with greater resources, renewed energy, and stronger ambitions.”
A decision shaped by modern cycling economics
The move also reflects a broader reality across the sport. Professional cycling is becoming harder to sustain at every level, particularly for teams that sit below the richest WorldTour structures. Budgets are rising, race access is more competitive, staff requirements are greater, and sponsors increasingly want visibility on the biggest platforms.
For Aubervilliers, the women’s team now offers the most coherent path. The squad has access to major races, a clear sporting identity and growing relevance at a time when women’s cycling is still expanding commercially and competitively.
That does not make the decision simple. The men’s team carries decades of history and emotional connection. But the club’s statement makes clear that the aim is not to abandon its broader mission. The amateur sector will be restructured around development, education and transmission, while the women’s ProTeam becomes the professional flagship.
What it means for St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93
For the women’s team, this is a major vote of confidence. It should mean more resources, clearer long-term planning and a stronger institutional focus from 2027 onwards.
That could be important in the race to remain competitive as the women’s peloton becomes deeper. The Women’s ProTeam level is increasingly significant, with teams trying to secure invitations to the biggest races while also developing riders capable of stepping up against WorldTour opposition.
St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 has already shown that it can build a visible project in women’s cycling. The challenge now is to turn that into sustained progression, stronger race programmes and a squad capable of competing more consistently across the top tier of the calendar.
The symbolism is clear. A club that once built its professional identity around its men’s team is now placing its future in the hands of its women’s squad. In the current direction of cycling, that feels less like a gamble and more like a recognition of where momentum is building.
