en.Wedoany.com Reported - On June 9, the French cycling team Groupama-FDJ United selected Marlink to deliver, install, manage, and monitor a hybrid Starlink and LTE connectivity solution for its fleet vehicles. The deployment will receive ongoing service management and technical support to ensure stable mobile communications for the team during the 2026 World Tour season and beyond.
This partnership introduces low Earth orbit satellite internet and terrestrial cellular networks into the mobile operations of a professional cycling team. Groupama-FDJ United competes in the World Tour across mountainous, rural, highway, urban, and border routes. The team's director cars, support vehicles, media cars, and technical support vehicles handle real-time communication, tactical coordination, video review, data transmission, and event content production during races. Traditional cellular networks often suffer from insufficient coverage, congestion, and signal fluctuations in high-altitude areas, remote regions, or crowded large-scale events, making a single communication link inadequate for the team's continuous connectivity requirements. The hybrid network provided by Marlink combines Starlink's low Earth orbit satellite connectivity with LTE networks, enabling vehicles to maintain higher bandwidth, lower latency, and stronger link redundancy even at high speeds, providing a stable foundation for race command and content distribution.
The solution will support high-definition streaming, behind-the-scenes reporting, real-time internal team communication, and on-site race decision-making. Marlink also noted that the system can ensure critical communication continuity when vehicles are stationary with engines off through intelligent power management, and lay the groundwork for IP radio applications in moving vehicles.
The demand for communication capabilities in professional cycling events is clearly rising. Team managers need to continuously track live broadcasts, road conditions, rider positions, weather changes, supply arrangements, and competitor dynamics during races. Technical teams also handle data from vehicles, equipment, athletes, and media content. Communication disruptions can affect tactical decisions, as well as sponsor exposure, social media posts, and fan engagement. With low Earth orbit satellite networks like Starlink entering moving vehicles, coverage gaps in complex terrain can be addressed; LTE networks provide mature access capabilities in urban and regular routes. By combining both, the team can dynamically switch links based on on-site network quality, thereby enhancing communication resilience during races.
Marlink has historically served shipping, energy, humanitarian aid, government, enterprise, and remote operations. This entry into top-tier cycling team vehicle connectivity deployment reflects the expansion of business-critical hybrid communications into sports events, mobile media, and outdoor operations. For race teams, connectivity has evolved from a supporting tool to an integral part of operational systems; for communication service providers, sports events offer application samples with high mobility, diverse terrain, high visibility, and intensive real-time data, allowing validation of Starlink, LTE, network management, remote monitoring, and technical support performance in complex field environments. Similar solutions may later extend to rally races, marathons, off-road events, large-scale touring activities, and mobile live broadcast fleets.
With Groupama-FDJ United adopting Marlink's hybrid connectivity solution, the team's communication assurance capabilities for the 2026 World Tour season will be further enhanced. The project's subsequent effectiveness will depend on cross-border route coverage, Starlink terminal stability, LTE network switching capabilities, onboard equipment power management, and on-site technical support levels. As sports events increasingly rely on real-time video, data analysis, and remote collaboration, mobile communication infrastructure will become a critical pillar for professional teams to improve operational efficiency and on-site decision-making capabilities.
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