History
The team was called Gitane in 1972 and was directed by Andre Desvrages for whom, in 1973, future 1980 Tour de France winner Joop Zoetemelk rode. Gitane had sponsored teams during the late 1950s and 1960s which included Jacques Anquetil. In 1974, the Gitane team fused with the Sonolor team of directeur sportif Jean Stablinski creating Sonolor-Gitane, which included the Belgian climber Lucien Van Impe. The team was called Gitane-Campagnolo from 1975–1977 and in 1975 signed 1971 French amateur champion Bernard Hinault. During this time the team was directed by Stablinski, but Cyrille Guimard was becoming involved as well as Maurice Champion.
Guimard took over as main directeur sportif in 1976 and directed Van Impe to success in the 1976 Tour de France. Van Impe left at the end of 1976 and Hinault was designated captain for stage races. Even though Hinault won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1977 in front of Bernard Thevenet and Lucien Van Impe, he did not start the Tour de France.
After Renault auto group purchased Gitane, Renault became the main sponsor of the team making the Renault-Elf-Gitane team.
Read more about this topic: Gitane-Campagnolo
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