'I should have stopped the team last year' - Belgian ProTeam Wagner Bazin WB to end as sponsor hunt fails

The 2025 season will be the last for the Belgian ProTeam Wagner Bazin WB after 15 years in the peloton, La Dernière Heure reported on Friday in an interview with general manager Christophe Brandt.

Brandt revealed that title sponsor Philippe Wagner, owner of the eponymous charcuterie company, did not extend the team's contract, and a search for a replacement came up empty.

"I continued to look for sponsors for several weeks, and I was even in advanced negotiations with some companies, particularly online betting firms. But there were always obstacles," Brandt said.

The team began in 2011 as Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole, and in addition to support from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, had sponsors such as Group Protect, Veranclassic, Bingoal, and Pauwels Sauces before being saved from the brink of extinction by Philippe Wagner last year.

"It hurts, of course," Brandt said of the team's end. "I took enormous pleasure in this project. We lived some great moments, especially between 2017 and 2023, when we really stood out in races with fast guys like [Timothy] Dupont or [Baptiste] Planckaert.

"Nearly 40 riders moved up to the next level thanks to our structure for supporting young riders. That has always been our punchline when going to see a sponsor: we aren't the biggest team, but we are a bridge to the highest level. I think we could make a living from it. But the last few years have been more complicated."

Brandt quickly found out that Wagner expected to be more directly involved with the team than other sponsors and became dissatisfied when the team failed to achieve results.

The team's only 2025 victory came in January when Quentin Bezza won stage 3 of the Tour of Sharjah. In the busy Spring Classics period, the situation declined.

"Even though we had some good riders, who I am convinced have the potential to become successful professionals, it was difficult to achieve results immediately," Brandt said.

"The only way to make a mark was to go in breakaways. And this did not please Philippe Wagner, who quickly pointed out this lack of ambition and results, sometimes through the press."

The team's morale took a hit when the results didn't come, and that led to a spiral where riders were reluctant to fight for position in the peloton.

"In recent months, we could feel that our riders were afraid to position themselves at the front of the peloton because 'that's the World Tour's place.' A phrase I find hard to hear," Brandt said. "We lacked a competitive spirit."

According to Brandt, he learned in June that Wagner was busy building his own team. "He even contacted some of our contracted riders so that they would join his new team.

"I should have stopped the team last year and not brought people along in this complicated 2025 season. What disappoints me the most is that."