The FDJ team has secured a new co-naming rights sponsor in Groupama, and from March 2018 will be known as Groupama-FDJ. Despite the green logo of the new sponsor, the French WorldTour team will retain the blue, white and red colours of the French tricolore flag. Groupama is a French insurance group founded in 1986. It has previously invested in sailing and is the naming rights sponsor of football stadiums in Lyon and Budapest, but is looking to cycling for greater exposure. The company will provide equal financial support as FDJ, the French national lottery company that has backed the team since its inception in 1997 and now gives up its status as lead title sponsor for the first time. FDJ is reducing its input into the team, investing into other sporting ventures such as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but Groupama`s investment will not only cover the losses but increase the team`s budget by some 30 per cent.ADVERTISEMENT French newspaper L`Equipe estimates that the team`s budget will rise to somewhere in the region of 16 to 20 million Euros per year, which would surpass that of AG2R La Mondiale, the only other French WorldTour team. `Groupama and FDJ join forces today with the objective of becoming the top French cycling team in terms of means, and with resources on par with those of international teams, allowing us to set our sights on establishing ourselves among the top 10 teams in the world,` read a statement from the FDJ team today. The partnership will come into effect in March 2018, so while the new kit will be unveiled on January 31, it will only be raced in for the first time at Paris-Nice on March 4. Development team
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