The 2010 season for the cycling team began in January with the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTour team, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every ProTour event. Personnel-wise, the team was mostly unchanged from the 2009 season. Its manager, as it has been since its inception in 1997, was former cyclist Marc Madiot. On 2 July, the eve of the Tour de France, the team announced that the French national lottery would extend its sponsorship of the team for four years, and the team would immediately change its name to . For the 2011 season, the team will ride as a UCI Professional Continental team. Only the top 20 teams from 2010 in the UCI's points system were eligible for ProTeam status, and FDJ finished 21st in that ranking. 2010 roster Ages as of January 1, 2010. Riders who joined the team for the 2010 season Riders who left the team during or after the 2009 season One-day races Spring classics Fall races Stage races The team scored three victories at the Tour Méditerranéen, with Hutarovich in stages 1 and 3 and Veikkanen in stage 2. Veikkanen's stage win gave him the overall race lead, but he was unable to hold it through the conclusion of the race, losing it on the final day to Alejandro Valverde. Française des Jeux' early season successes continued at the Tour du Haut Var, when Le Mével won the second stage of the two-day event, and with it the overall. Grand Tours As they did in 2009, Française des Jeux declined to participate in the Giro d'Italia. Tour de France FDJ, as they became known shortly before the Tour de France began, entered the race with a squad led by Le Mével, tenth-place finisher and best French rider in 2009. In stage 1, the first road race stage after the prologue time trial, several crashes took place in the final few kilometers, meaning only five riders were at the front of the race to contest the sprint finish. Ladagnous avoided crashing and made this little selection, though he was last of the five riders in the kick to the finish. Ladagnous took a meaningless ninth place the next day, as the peloton decided not to race to the finish, neutralizing the results for all but stage winner Sylvain