Nearly 15 years have passed since Breton team Bretagne-Jean Floc'h cautiously took its first steps as a professional cycling team in 2005. But since then, while building a solid reputation as a mid-tier French pro contender, the team, now known as Arkea Samsic, is moving into a whole new game in 2020 with the addition of two strong riders, Nasser Bouhanni and Nairo Quintana There is no doubt that the team is.

It is true that Andre Greipel has moved on after a brief and unsatisfying year in the colors of Arkea Samsic in 2019. And Warren Barguil, despite an injury that sidelined him for the first half of the season, provided a timely reminder of his talent by winning the French Nationals and finishing 10th in the Tour.

Six months later, however, the team raised the stakes for high-level success significantly by signing the three-time Tour de France podium finisher and acquiring a volatile but talented French sprinter for 2020.

"This is a turning point for the team, we started our 'internationalization' process when we signed Warren (Barguil) in 2018 and now with Nairo we have taken another step forward," team manager Emmanuel Hubert told Cyclngnews.

On the surface, there are similarities between Buchani and Quintana, who are both looking for a new challenge after spending extended periods of time with their previous teams. Both will turn 30 next year.

However, comparisons between French sprinters are only valid up to a very limited point. Bouhanni has had a roller-coaster last years in Cofidis, winning one World Tour race in the last two years. Yet, even though he has not won a race in 2019, with his last top-three finish a runner-up finish at Grote Prix Marcel Quinto in May, his five other wins in 2018 are not to be underestimated.

Meanwhile, while the Colombian climber has not finished on the podium in a Grand Tour since the 2017 Giro, he has won stages in the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, and Vuelta a España (once leading for a day) in 2018-19, as well as Paris-Nice and runner-up in the Volta a Catalunya.

"Nairo has almost always been with Movistar, but on a personal level he needed to change to a new team for new challenges and responsibilities. From our point of view, the process will help take the team to a whole new level from what it is now," says Hubert.

"As for Nasser, the last few years have been quite tough for him. He wants more than anything to start his career and win races. We know he's been training hard, and we know that he's going to be a very good racer.

Hubert himself briefly turned pro in the 1990s. When that team dramatically disbanded mid-season, he spent the rest of that year riding for a "neutral" French Federation-backed team, but that did not stop him from becoming the best French neo-pro of the season, winning the Tour de Ain and Tour de Lavenir and finishing fifth in the GP Ploué There was no stopping him.

Hubert then retired after two years of racing for French team GAN with stars like Chris Boardman, Ronan Pensek, and Stuart O'Grady. He then became involved in management, but returned to cycling in 2005 as Direction Sportif for Agritubel, and joined his current team (then Bretagne-Schuller) in 2010.

Another decade later, the question that will no doubt immediately come to mind for Arkea-Samsic in 2020 is how much support to give to sprinters and how much to give to climbers in the Grand Tours.

Not without differing opinions on the matter, Ineos/Sky have ruled out sprint competition in the Tour, with the exception of Mark Cavendish in 2012. Clearly, the other big teams in the modern Tour, led by Jumbo Visma with Dylan Groenewegen and Stefan Kruijswijk, see no harm in this for their chances.

"Nairo, Warren, and a couple more mountain riders should be enough to fight for GC in the climbs," says Hubert. Next year's Tour de France will be more complicated for the sprinters because there will be more mountains." As for the sprinters, a lot will depend on the stages.

That is, assuming the team can make the Tour in July, which they have done every year since 2014, but with much less high-level firepower. Hubert says, "Nasser, Warren, and Nairo will definitely be in the Tour de France lineup." 'But Nasser has had a complicated season of late.'

On the pros and cons of Arkea Samsic not participating in the World Tour, Hubert says, "I think it's a good thing." We already knew that the current system of evaluating three years of results to determine who would join the World Tour would be complicated for us. (This year, Arcair won a total of five races, but none on the World Tour, the most important being Barguil's All-Japan title.)

"But we have to take the positives of being away from the World Tour and use it as motivation to move forward and challenge the World Tour teams in the races we participate in. Just because Barguil, Quintana, and Bouhanni are on the team doesn't mean that the athletes should take them for granted or assume that everything will be fine."

On the flip side of not competing on the World Tour, he added, "We don't know what races we will be competing in at the World Tour level. That way I can make sure my riders are prepared for the best of the year."

Needless to say, Tour qualification is a major goal for Hubert's team.

"We are confident about our chances to compete in the Tour, but we are not taking it for granted. I don't assume anything at this point in time, and I don't assume anything at any point before it actually happens."

"I don't think we're going to be in the Tour at this point in time.

In any case, the Tour is still a relatively long way off, and Team EF sprinter Dan McRae has already raced with the team for several years, but with 12 new riders on the team, Arkea Samsic is not overly concerned with wild cards instead focusing on how to start preparing for the season.

"The whole team will meet in Brittany the third week of November, and we will stay in Calpe, Spain, from December 9 to 22. This will allow the new riders to integrate into the team."

Contrary to earlier media reports, Quintana, who is said to be joining the Colombian tour, has not yet decided which race he will start the season with. He said, "We've had a lot of requests from race organizers. There is a big possibility that he will join Colombia, but it has not been decided yet. As for the others, including Bouhanni, we will start looking at the race program this week."

Regardless of where Quintana and his team start the season, 2020 should be a landmark season for Arkea Samsic. And there is no denying that the newly formed team will have higher expectations than ever before.