Vekta welcomes onboard World Tour stars Eddie Dunbar & Valentin Madouas as founding athlete investors

December 17, 2025

Eddie Dunbar (IRL) and Valentin Madouas (FRA) to join as strategic investors and founding advisors to help shape the future of AI-powered performance in endurance sport.

Paris, France (December 17, 2025) /ENDURANCE SPRORTSWIRE/ – AI-powered training and coaching platform Vekta has announced that WorldTour riders Eddie Dunbar and Valentin Madouas have joined as athlete investors and founding members of the newly created Vekta Athlete Advisory Board.

The Vekta Athlete Advisory Board has been established to ensure that Vekta’s long-term evolution is directed through the insight, needs, and experience of world-class athletes. As founding members, Dunbar and Madouas will advise across product innovation, performance models, feature development, strategy and athlete experience – helping the Vekta team to build the most advanced, athlete-centred performance ecosystem in endurance sport.

Irish rider Eddie Dunbar is renowned for his climbing skills, GC leadership and proven stage-race pedigree, with multiple top-10 general classification finishes and high-profile stage victories to his name. A technically minded athlete with a meticulous, data-driven approach to training, he has already played an integral role in Vekta’s early product development – and will continue to help shape the platform’s next generation of performance tools.

Valentin Madouas the 2023 French National Champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist. Widely regarded as one of the most versatile and respected riders in the WorldTour, Madouas performs consistently across classics, stage races and major championship events. His involvement represents a significant milestone in Vekta’s growth in France, adding world-class racing insights and a strong athlete voice to support the platform’s international expansion.

Both riders see the platform as the new standard for data-driven performance. Their decision to invest is driven by three core beliefs: that Vekta represents the future of how athletes train, analyse and understand their performance; that AI-driven insights must be shaped directly by athletes to remain meaningful, relevant and scalable; and that every athlete should have access to the same high-quality tools, modelling and support.

As founding members of the Vekta Athlete Advisory Board, Dunbar and Madouas will provide continuous product and feature feedback based on real-world racing and training, advise on the long-term development of Vekta’s AI models and performance metrics, shape athlete-focused innovations across endurance sport disciplines, and support strategic decisions relating to growth, community, and competitive pathways.

Their guidance will help ensure Vekta evolves not just as a technology platform, but as a performance environment that truly reflects the lived experience of elite athletes.

Paul-Antoine Girard, Co-founder & CEO of Vekta said: “We’re incredibly excited to be working with Eddie and Valentin – two world-class, inspirational athletes at the very top of the sport. Their experience and analytical approach will be hugely valuable, and welcoming them as both investors and strategic advisors marks an extraordinary milestone for Vekta. Their insight will help accelerate the development of a platform built by athletes, for athletes, and shape the next decade of innovation in endurance performance.”

Eddie Dunbar said: “The demands of training and racing are changing, and the way performance is understood has to change with them. Vekta is building something that reflects the reality of where the sport is today and where it is heading. Being involved at this stage is really exciting and is about helping shape what comes next.”

Valentin Madouas said: “What interested me about Vekta is the ambition behind it. It’s not just about improving analysis for a small group of riders, but about raising the standard of how performance is approached across the whole sport, from young riders to WorldTour professionals. Being part of this journey matters.”

Vekta is available to both athletes and coaches and offers a 30 day free trial, with subscriptions available after the trial.

To find out more about the Vekta visit www.joinvekta.com

And for further information about the Vekta Athlete Advisory Board visit HERE

ENDS

Press contact:

Kate Allan
Email: kate@competepr.com
Phone: +44 7754 072648

About Vekta

Vekta is an AI powered training and coaching platform built for athletes and coaches who want to achieve more. Working with WorldTour teams, elite athletes, and leading performance experts, Vekta combines advanced sports science with real time AI insights to deliver a complete view of training, recovery, and readiness. The platform unifies data from wearables, sensors, and fitness apps, creating a single performance ecosystem where coaches and athletes can plan, analyse, and communicate at scale. With dynamic training zones, Critical

Power modelling, proprietary performance metrics, and natural language planning tools, Vekta brings world class performance capabilities to every level of endurance sport.

Read more about the Vekta co-founding team – here.

Eddie Dunbar

Eddie Dunbar is an Irish professional road racing cyclist renowned as a talented climber and general classification (GC) contender, currently riding for the UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla (though he is set to join Q36.5 Pro Cycling in 2026). A key figure in Irish cycling, Dunbar secured a notable seventh-place overall finish in the 2023 Giro d’Italia and achieved a major breakthrough at the 2024 Vuelta a España with two impressive stage victories. The 2024 Irish National Time Trial Champion, he previously rode for the former Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) and consistently demonstrates resilience and a strong competitive spirit in the sport’s biggest races.

Valentin Madouas

Valentin Madouas is a versatile French professional cyclist who achieved a career highlight by winning the silver medal in the men’s road race at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Currently riding for UCI WorldTeam Groupama–FDJ, he is known as a strong puncheur and Classics specialist. Madouas is the 2023 French National Road Race Champion and has secured multiple podium finishes in major events, including third place in the 2022 Tour of Flanders and second in the 2023 Strade Bianche. His first UCI WorldTour victory came at the 2023 Bretagne Classic, a home-race win close to his Breton roots.