Tom Boonen is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the U.S. Postal Service and Quick-Step Floors teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Boonen won the 2005 UCI World Road Race Championships, and was a single-day road specialist with a strong finishing sprint. He won the cycling monuments Paris–Roubaix 4 times and the Tour of Flanders 3 times, among many other prestigious victories, such as prevailing 5 times in the E3 Harelbeke, winning 6 stages of the Tour de France and winning the Overall title of the Tour of Qatar 4 times.
Henri "Rik" Van Looy is a Belgian former professional cyclist of the post-war period. Nicknamed the King of the Classics or Emperor of Herentals, he dominated the classic cycle races in the late 1950s and first half of the ‘60s.
Cofidis is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard, the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault–Elf–Gitane team of the 1980s. The team's sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals. After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTour's first five seasons, from 2010 the team competed as a UCI Professional Continental team. The team joined the UCI World Tour for the 2020 season.
Henricus Theodorus Josephus (Servais) Knaven is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, currently sporting and technical manager for AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step. He was previously a directeur sportif for Team Sky/Ineos Grenadiers. He rode at the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Marc Demeyer was a professional road racing cyclist from Avelgem, Belgium. Although known as the "master servant" for Freddy Maertens, the powerful Demeyer was able to win 60 professional road races. He died of a heart attack at the age of 31.
Yauheni Hutarovich is a Belarusian former road racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2007 and 2016 for the Roubaix–Lille Métropole, FDJ–BigMat, Ag2r–La Mondiale and Fortuneo–Vital Concept teams. He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Minsk Cycling Club.
Steve Chainel is a French former professional racing cyclist. Chainel competed for the Auber 93, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, FDJ, Ag2r–La Mondiale, Cofidis and Cross Team Legendre professional teams.
The 2011 season for the FDJ cycling team began in January at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. The season was their first as a UCI Professional Continental team, having been denied UCI ProTeam status for 2011 in the preceding offseason, due to a paperwork error. Thus, the team had to be selected by organizers of UCI World Tour events, including each of the season's Grand Tours, if they were to compete. Only the Tour de France extended a wildcard invitation to FDJ.
Nacer Bouhanni is a French former professional racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2023. A sprinter, he was the winner of the 2012 French National Road Race Championships. Although his first Grand Tour was in 2012, his real breakthrough was in 2014 when he won three stages and the points classification in the Giro d'Italia. In August 2014 it was announced that Bouhanni would leave FDJ and join Cofidis on an initial two-year deal from 2015.
The 2012 season for FDJ–BigMat began in January at the Tour Down Under. As a UCI ProTeam, the team were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
Geoffrey Soupe is a French professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team TotalEnergies. Soupe was the 2010 under-23 French national champion for the road race, and finished second to Great Britain's Alex Dowsett in the European under-23 time trial championship.
Bryan Coquard is a French cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Cofidis.
Silvan Dillier is a Swiss cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck.
Alexis Gougeard is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Cofidis.
Stefan Küng is a Swiss cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Groupama–FDJ. He is also a citizen of Liechtenstein.
Kenneth Vanbilsen is a Belgian former cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2022. He was named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France, winning the combativity award on stage ten.
The 2016 Volta a Catalunya was a road cycling stage race that took place in Catalonia, Spain, from 21 to 27 March. It was the fifth race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the 96th edition of the Volta a Catalunya.
The 2017 Scheldeprijs was the 105th edition of the Scheldeprijs road cycling one day race, held on 5 April 2017 as part of the 2017 UCI Europe Tour, as a 1.HC categorised race. The event was noted for being the last official race of Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen on Belgian soil; as such, the race started in Boonen's home town of Mol instead of its usual start in Antwerp, but finished as customary in Schoten.
The 2017 Grand Prix de Denain was the 59th edition of the Grand Prix de Denain road cycling one day race. It was part of the 2017 UCI Europe Tour, held on 13 April 2017, as a 1.HC categorised race.
The 2021 Cholet-Pays de la Loire was the 43rd edition of the Cholet-Pays de la Loire road cycling one day race, which was held on 28 March 2021, starting and finishing in the French town of Cholet, in the Maine-et-Loire department. The route covers 201.8 kilometres (125.4 mi) and finishes off with seven laps of an 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) long circuit within Cholet. The race was a 1.1-rated event on the 2021 UCI Europe Tour and the second event of the 2021 French Road Cycling Cup.
