Grace Brown extends with FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope through 2024

The Australian joined the team at the start of this season.

August 26, 2022 Sadhbh O'Shea

Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

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Grace Brown will stay with FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope for two more years after extending her contract with the squad through 2024.

Brown joined the French outfit at the start of this season following three years with the BikeExchange team. She formed a key part of the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope classics squad, with her aggressive style defining how the team wanted to race.

The 30-year-old took her first win in the team’s colors with a stage of the Women’s Tour in June. She almost took the overall title but was pipped to the win on bonus seconds by Elisa Longo Borghini.

Brown is the reigning Australian national time trial champion, and she recently claimed the Commonwealth Games ITT victory, beating Anna Henderson and Georgia Williams. She also won the one-day La Périgord Ladies race after making it into a three-rider breakaway.

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“She has really changed the team,” team manager Stephen Delcourt told VeloNews in July. “Nobody could follow when Grace Brown attacked. Even this year at the Women’s Tour when she won the stage, [Elisa] Longo Borghini had to work a lot to come back on the wheel. Now, I am really happy to have a rider like this because she is a model for my riders and maybe she’s a model for all riders if they watch how she rides and how she attacks.

“I think the only chance to win and fight with Van Vleuten and SD Worx is to ride differently and not follow or wait for the attack. If we wait, it’s not good for our sport. Women’s cycling is really amazing. They attack a lot, they ride with a lot of intent. When we signed Grace Brown, she is really a model for Cecilie, Evita, and Marta. You can attack when you feel and not only when the sport director says to attack. When you feel you can attack.”

FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope has so far signed two new riders for next season, with Gladys Verhulst and Loes Adegeest set to join the team. Meanwhile, Brodie Chapman has confirmed that she will leave the team at the end of the year.