Audrey Cordon-Ragot, one of the riders set adrift by the collapse of the 2023 team project that was supposed to spawn from the B&B Hotels-KTM squad run by brothers Jérôme and Sébastian Pineau, gave new details into the deceit that strung riders along until December.
Speaking to Le Télégramme (opens in new tab) in an exclusive interview, Cordon-Ragot gives details of a team management that convinced riders for months that the project would go forward when all signs pointed in the opposite direction.
“It’s a crazy story. I still can’t believe it,” Cordon-Ragot told Le Télégramme. “For two months, we were pushed around. As far as lies go, that’s on an elite level, no?
“I’m still trying to find explanations: was it a vicious circle, a spiral, a descent into hell where you lie once, then a second time, then a third time and you end up convincing yourself of your lies?”
The uncertainty surrounding her future was a “new ordeal” after the French champion suffered a stroke that ruled her out of the UCI Road World Championships in September and was extra stressful because she had personally recruited several of the women to the team.
“I believed so much in this project, I had put my DNA into it. People are going to think I’m completely stupid, but until December 6, I was convinced that it was going to work,” Cordon-Ragot said. “I was even yelling at people who said it wasn’t. I feel guilty for taking so many people with me in this shipwreck.”
The 33-year-old detailed the journey from having excitement about building a new team to dismay when it suddenly went up in flames.
“In the spring, I met the Pineau brothers in Theix. They presented me with their project and proposed me to be part of it,” she said. “I was in on the secret, it gave me confidence, and I embraced the project like never before. At the same time as I was preparing for the Tour de France – I took care of recruiting the riders and staff with one of my friends and future coach.”
She said there were even suggestions she would take over as general manager from Sébastian Pineau after retiring in 2024. Details began to come together during the summer and by the end of October, the riders were summoned to Paris for an announcement that should have named Mark Cavendish to the men’s team and revealed the women’s roster.
In between, Cordon-Ragot said she heard less and less news from the Pineau brothers. “When I asked, Sébastien Pineau reassured me. In mid-October, we were summoned to Paris for an…
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