Team TotalEnergies terminates Alexandre Geniez's contract after domestic abuse conviction

Team TotalEnergies have terminated Alexandre Geniez's contract with immediate effect, a few months after the French rider's domestic abuse conviction.

The French professional cyclist was given a four-month suspended prison sentence in March after being found guilty of domestic violence against his ex-wife, Lucie Garrigues. 

"Team TotalEnergies has reached an agreement with rider Alexandre Geniez to terminate his contract," the team's statement read. "To date, he is no longer part of the TotalEnergies team.”

Prosecutors had requested that the TotalEnergies rider be given a a six-month suspended prison sentence related to allegations of regular domestic violence beginning in February 2020, which Geniez denied in court.

Garrigues reported the violence to police in Rodez last November, accusing him of physical abuse. The pair were together from 2013 to 2020, and she is the mother of their two children.

Geniez remained a TotalEnergies rider following his conviction, but did not ride for the team. He raced at the Saudi Tour and the Tour du Rwanda after being charged, winning two stages at the latter. 

The Frenchman was due to retire at the end of 2022, and has won three stages of the Vuelta a España, and once finished ninth overall at the Giro d'Italia. It is unlikely that he will find a team for the rest of this season, if he chooses to continue his career.

After the conviction, TotalEnergies released a statement condemning domestic violence, but did not name Geniez, and did not indicate that his contract would be ending early.

“Team TotalEnergies condemns all forms of domestic violence, and wholeheartedly supports action to prevent and combat such abuse," the statement, released earlier this year, read. 

"Respect for people and the acquisition of responsibility are cardinal values that are supported by and shared within Team TotalEnergies. The team pays close attention to any situation that could violate these principles, and reserves the right to take appropriate disciplinary action in the event of proven misconduct."

Geniez wrote on Facebook that he had decided to leave the team and end his career to develop other projects, and did not mention the conviction or the termination of his contract.

"After achieving my cycling goals and going through changes in my personal life, I have decided to leave the Total-Energies team and start a new career," he wrote.

"At 34 years old, I realized the need to devote more to my personal life and develop projects that I have been thinking about for several years, in connection with cycling and economic activities in the territory where I live, in Aveyron, south-west France."