French WorldTour team Arkéa-B&B Hotels may cease to exist after this season if it cannot secure additional funding. Team manager Emmanuel Hubert admitted the team is "on the brink of death" as he desperately seeks new sponsors or hopes current backers can help them last until the end of the current season.
Hubert founded the Britain-based team in 2005 and reached WorldTour level in 2023, but is struggling to accumulate ranking points and faces relegation to ProTeam level or the team's complete closure. Arkéa-B&B Hotels also supports a women's ProTeam, and they too are fighting for survival. They are looking for a sponsor willing to invest 25 million euros.
"Our situation is unfortunately very simple. All contracts with our partners end at the end of 2025," Hubert said. "I am talking to my current partners. I believe I will have an answer by the end of April – then it will be either the end or continuation. I don't know if our partners want to continue with us or not, but I am acting as if they decided to stop. In today's cycling world, you need more money to survive. Even if the current partners continue, they won't give more than they do now – and that's not enough. So I have to look elsewhere."
Hubert was recently close to securing a major French sponsor, but the deal fell through. He admitted he is looking for 25 million euros, and time is running out. It is speculated that the Norwegian team Uno-X Mobility will take Arkéa-B&B Hotels' place in the World Tour.
"I won't name names. It was a very large French company. The international situation didn't help," he said, referring to global economic uncertainty. "The nights are short, and the days seem to be getting shorter too. I've never been home so little because I spend so much time looking for sponsors. "My team is on the brink of death. Especially if a decision about closure has to be made by mid-June. If by then the answer is still negative, we have to be realistic. Saving anything after that would be almost unheard of. It happened once with Jean-René Bernaudeau, who signed a contract with Europcar at the end of summer 2010. But such 'save the house' deals are like a miracle."
Markus Pajur rode for the club, then named Team Arkéa Samsic, in 2021-2022.
