After its parent company Accell was declared insolvent at the beginning of August, there is hope for French bike brand Lapierre, according to the company’s Directeur Général, William Perrier.
Accell has been in trouble for some time, and was finally declared insolvent on August 5, putting its brands at risk of closure. However, court proceedings in Dijon, France have given Lapierre some breathing space.
The company will now enter a six-month period of court supervised restructuring, which is designed to preserve jobs, facilitate the company’s continued operation, and address the company’s liabilities.
"This morning the Commercial Court of Dijon opened the receivership of Cycles Lapierre," Perrier posted on his LinkedIn page earlier this week.
"This is the decision we came to ask for. Let's be clear: it doesn't mean that everything is settled, nor that Lapierre is saved. It means that we have obtained the right and the time to fight."
Lapierre has been making bicycles in Dijon since 1946 and in recent years, has supplied teams like Groupama-FDJ and FDJ-SUEZ in the men’s and women’s WorldTour pelotons. In 2025 it began supplying bikes to all the teams under the Picnic-Post-NL umbrella, and it seems the current news is good for the supply of hardware to the Dutch squad.
"The activity continues in Dijon and we will gradually resume assembly," Perrier continued. "I want to salute the women and men of Lapierre once again. Every order processed, every delivery kept, every customer and supplier reassured builds our credibility with investors."
Small steps in a challenging market
After earlier acquiring a minority holding, Accell took ownership of Lapierre in 1996. Last year Lapierre generated €99.1 million in revenue, reducing its losses by €19.1 million in a single year, and with its manufacturing, R&D and sales infrastructure, Lapierre believes the structure "encompasses the functions required to build an autonomous company".
As it looks forward, Lapierre will enter a three-phase restructuring, first securing its current operations, before developing itself into the standalone business, then searching for an investor.
As in other parts of the world, the French bicycle market is currently re-finding its feet, a situation acknowledged by the company. "The French bicycle market remains in a correction phase but still represents a value of € 3.1 billion," read a company press release. "These results do not mean that a turnaround is guaranteed. However, they do show that loss reduction has begun and that the work already started must now be continued within a standalone framework."
Despite the apparent good news, the company’s presence in WorldTour is far from certain, with teams likely to be unwilling to partner with a company with an uncertain future, thus further damaging Lapierre’s visibility.
Whatever, no such salvation is currently on hand for Accell’s other sporting brands, Ghost and Raleigh, while its leisure bike brands, Batavus, Sparta, Carqon and Babboe also remain in peril.
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