Crédit Agricole (cycling team)
| UCI code | C.A |
|---|---|
| Registered | France |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Disbanded | 2008 |
| Discipline | Road |
| Status | ProTour |
| General manager | Roger Legeay |
| 1987 1988–89 1990 1991–92 1993–98 1998–2008 |
Vétements Z-Peugeot Z-Peugeot Z-Tomasso Z GAN Crédit Agricole |
Crédit Agricole (UCI Team Code: C.A) was a French professional cycling team managed by Roger Legeay. From 1997 to 2008, the team was sponsored by the French bank Crédit Agricole. Prior to 1997, the team was known as Vétements Z-Peugeot (1987), Z-Peugeot (1988-89), Z-Tomasso (1990), Z (1991–92) and GAN (1993–96). In 1990, the team's leading cyclist, the American Greg LeMond, won the Tour de France. The team also won the team title at the Tour de France that year. Crédit Agricole announced that they would cease to sponsor the team after 2008, and the team was subsequently disbanded.
The team was born out of the Peugeot cycling team, which existed from the early 1900s to 1986. Roger Legeay was the Peugeot team's last manager, and he created Vétements Z-Peugeot in 1987 (taking its name from the children's clothing brand Z and the car manufacturer Peugeot). That year, the team made its appearance at the Tour de France, with Frenchman Pascal Simon as its leading cyclist.
In 1988, under the name of Z-Peugeot, the team achieved its first stage win at the Tour de France when Jérôme Simon (Pascal Simon's brother) won stage 9 of the tour. The team's second stage win came in 1989, when the Scottish rider Robert Millar took a mountain stage.
In 1990, the Tour's defending champion, Greg LeMond, moved to the team, which had been renamed Z-Tomasso. Riding for the team, LeMond won his third Tour title that year, coming in 2 minutes and 16 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider, the Italian Claudio Chiappucci. LeMond credited strong team support and tactics for his third Tour victory. And the team also won the team title at the year's Tour, coming in just 16 seconds ahead of the ONCE cycling team (the closest margin for the team classification in the Tour's history).
In 1991, with the team renamed simply Z, LeMond wore the yellow jersey for five stages in the earlier part of the Tour, but faded as the event progressed and eventually finished in seventh place, 13 minutes behind the new champion, the Spanish rider Miguel Indurain.
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