Even though he hasn’t confirmed a new sponsor for the 2016 season, Europcar manager Jene-Rene Bernaudeau says he will be running a team next year based around 23 year old sprint star Bryan Coquard.

Bernaudeau has applied for a WorldTour licence for 2016 and is in talks with up to five different sponsors.

“We haven’t closed any negotiation yet but I’m optimistic,” Bernaudeau told Cyclismactu. “We will be there in 2016. Getting into the WorldTour would depend on having a big contract but my team will be around next season.”

Coquard and Pierre Rolland have been linked with moves away but Bernaudeau says all of his riders wont sign anywhere else until August 15, when the Frenchman finds out if he has secured sponsors for next year.

“Bryan Coquard will be at the centre of the team, everything will revolve around him,” Bernaudeau said. “We have a very serious option to help him to grow, to support him, but it’s impossible to say the name until it’s signed. Thomas Voeckler is the soul of the team, he’s been with us since Vendée U [the amateur team that was the genesis of Europcar – ed.] and he can’t imagine being elsewhere. Pierre Rolland hasn’t been with us from the start but he knows what he owes us. He is very ambitious for next year.”