Europcar manager Jean-René Bernaudeau was happy that his team was awarded WorldTour status for 2014. The team has for the last four years been relying on invitations to major races.

“We won’t need to wait for wildcards anymore, which above all makes me happy for my riders. They’re the ones I’m thinking of,” Bernaudeau told L’Équipe. “We won 26 races this year, we dominated the second division [in the UCI Europe Tour] and this promotion to the WorldTour is a reward for their efforts and that fills me with pride.”

Europcar is the only new entry to the WorldTour for 2014. The team was part of the original ProTour calendar in 2005.

The team has been invited to the Tour de France in each of its four seasons outside of the WorldTour, but at the same time, the team has now received a wildcard to another grand tour since the 2010 Vuelta a España.

“We’re going to be able to plan personalized race programs for each of our riders, without exception,” sport director Andy Flickinger told L’Équipe. “In the last few years, we've only done the Tour, which only involved 9 out of 25 riders and caused a lot of frustration. This time, everyone will have a chance to ride a grand tour.”

Racing as an WorldTour teams means that the team will expand its roster to 25 riders for 2014.