It’s 11 years and counting since Sylvain Chavanel easily brushed aside Jeremy Roy in a two-up sprint in Montluçon to win Cofidis’ last Tour de France stage win. 11 years of missed chances, 11 years of poor signings, and 11 years of underachievement for a team that was first formed in 1997 under the stewardship of Cyrille Guimard.
Several team managers have been ushered in and out of the Cofidis doors since then, but the latest boss at the helm, Cedric Vasseur, is optimistic that this year’s roster can finally end their drought.
There is certainly a sense of optimism around the Cofidis camp ahead of the Brussels Grand Départ – not the desperation that used to permeate from the team in years gone by. Vasseur, who was appointed ahead of the 2018 season, has had little room to manoeuvre in the transfer market since taking charge but he has at least changed the attitude of several riders as he looks to get the best out of the modest squad.
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He has also ushered the team’s underperforming sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni, to one side without destabilizing the rest of the team. The French sprinter, who has now been left out of the Cofidis team for the last two Tours, is surely set to depart at the end of the year when his contract expires. That will free up budget for new recruits, but here, at this year’s Tour de France, Vasseur is only willing to focus on the eight riders he has selected.
"The selection was naturally made over the last few weeks. There are some races that were naturally important, like the Critérium du Dauphiné, like the Ventoux race. These are races where you can’t hide," Vasseur told Cyclingnews after Cofidis’ pre-race press conference in Brussels.
"The team we’ve got here, first we took the winners. There are four: [Christophe] Laporte, [Jesus] Herrada, [Julien] Simon, and [Natnael] Berhane. They know the way to win, and the other four riders complete our roster because you can’t just have winners. You need helpers too. We’ve tried to make a well-balanced team and we’ve looked to create a team that takes pleasure in working together because it’s a three-week race and that’s a long trip."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-france-can-cofidis-end-their-dreadful-barren-spell
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