BytagThe publication "Jean-René Bernaudeau will leave TotalEnergies, Stéphane Heulot tipped to succeed him"
The Jean-René Bernaudeau era at the head of the TotalEnergies team is about to end. According to information published this Thursday by Ouest-FranceThe Vendée manager, who will celebrate his 70th birthday next May, will leave his position this winter after more than thirty years at the helm of the structure he himself created.
His successor is expected to be Stéphane Heulot. The former 1996 French champion (on route) and former manager of Lotto-Dostny – with whom he had managed to bring the Belgian team back into the WorldTour this season – is in pole position to take over the reins of the Vendée team.
A long Vendée history
It all began in 1991 with the creation of the amateur team Vendée U. Nine years later, in 2000, Jean-René Bernaudeau turned professional with Bonjour, which would later become Brioches La Boulangère, Bouygues Telecom, Europcar, Direct Énergie, and finally TotalEnergies. Under its various names, the team has never missed a single edition of the Tour de France since 2000, driven by popular figures such as Thomas Voeckler, Sylvain Chavanel, and more recently, Pierre Latour and Anthony Turgis.
The post-2026 challenge
Jean-René Bernaudeau's departure comes at a particular time: the sponsorship contract with TotalEnergies expires at the end of 2026. Jean-René Bernaudeau and Stéphane Heulot will therefore have the difficult task of securing the team's future beyond that date and finding a new title partner to guarantee its continued presence in the peloton.
