Cofidis (cycling team)

Cofidis Solutions Crédits
Team information
UCI code COF
Registered France
Founded 1997 (1997)
Discipline Road
Status UCI Professional Continental
Bicycles Orbea
Website Team home page
Key personnel
General manager Yvon Sanquer
Team name history
1997– Cofidis

Jersey

Cofidis Solutions Crédits (UCI team code: COF) is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault-Elf-Gitane team of the 1980s. The team's sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals. After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTour's first five seasons, from 2010 on the team competes as a UCI Professional Continental team.

History

Cyrille Guimard started the team in 1996 with backing from François Migraine, the chief executive of Cofidis. An acquisition was Lance Armstrong, formerly of Motorola Cycling Team. Armstrong was dropped[1] because of his cancer and another American, Bobby Julich, became leader for stage races. Julich's place in the top three of the 1998 Tour de France brought the team to the spotlight, and Frank Vandenbroucke brought further results in classics. That year, Cofidis won the team classification in the Tour.

Years of drought followed as Julich and Vandenbroucke left the team. Vandenbroucke's Belgian compatriots, Nico Mattan, Chris Peers, Peter Farazijn, and Jo Planckaert, stayed on but were criticised for inconsistent performances. Cofidis, on the demand of Migraine, began paying riders by results, judged by the points they won in a season-long competition run by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Belgian riders criticised the policy, saying it would lead riders to ride conservatively to be sure of good placings at the finish. They debated the issue publicly with the manager, Alain Bondue, and left.

Cofidis rider Alexandre Usov, of Belarus, in the 2009 Cofidis racing kit at the 2009 Tour Down Under

David Millar raised the team's profile by winning the prologue of the 2000 Tour de France, taking leadership of the team. Millar criticized the points system and the team relented.

In 2004 Cofidis had three world champions Igor Astarloa on the road, David Millar in the individual time trial and Laurent Gané on the track. However, a doping scandal involving Millar and other riders led them to stop racing until it was resolved. Astarloa left the team. The investigation decided that doping was by individual riders and that the team was not involved. However, David Millar has since suggested otherwise, in a strongly worded interview with the BBC.[2] The team then returned to competition for the 2004 Tour de France, in which Stuart O'Grady and David Moncoutié won stages, Moncoutié's on Bastille Day .

Moncoutié won on Bastille day again in the 2005 Tour de France – the only French stage win – with O'Grady's help. However, a new signing, Sylvain Chavanel failed to win a stage or to make a strong impression .

O'Grady and Matthew White left in 2006. Cédric Vasseur – often the road captain – also left. An early victory in Classic Haribo by Arnaud Coyot showed the team still had firepower. Cofidis won the first stage of the 2006 Tour de France with Jimmy Casper, in a chaotic sprint.

For 2007 the team signed Belgians Nick Nuyens and Kevin De Weert from Quick Step-Innergetic.

On 25 July 2007 Cofidis rider Christian Moreni failed his doping test after the 11th stage of the Tour de France. His blood contained traces of testosterone. Moreni acknowledged doping. The team withdrew from the Tour.[3]

On 29 September 2009, the UCI ProTour decided not to renew the ProTour licenses of Cofidis and Bbox Bouygues Telecom, due to poor results. [4]

In 2012, the team received a wildcard invitation to the Tour de France, along with three other French-registered teams.[5]

On 10 July 2012, the first rest day in the 2012 Tour de France, French police raided the Cofidis team hotel, arresting French rider Remy Di Gregorio[6] on suspicion of doping.[7]

2013 Paris - Roubaix, Forest of Arenberg

For the 2015 season the team announced it had signed 2014 Giro d'Italia points classification winner, Nacer Bouhanni, along with Dominique Rollin, Geoffrey Soupe and Steve Chainel.[8]

Team roster

2017

   RiderDate of birth Previous team 
Yoann BagotSeptember 06, 1987
Guillaume BonnafondJune 23, 1987AG2R La Mondiale (2016)
Nacer BouhanniJuly 25, 1990FDJ.fr (2014)
Rayane BouhanniFebruary 24, 1996
Loïc ChetoutSeptember 23, 1992
Dimitri ClaeysJune 18, 1987Wanty-Groupe Gobert (2016)
Jérôme CousinJune 05, 1989
Nicolas EdetDecember 02, 1987
Dorian GodonMay 25, 1996Vulco-VC Vaulx-en-Velin (2016)
Hugo HofstetterFebruary 13, 1994CC Étupes (2015)
Christophe LaporteDecember 11, 1992
Mathias Le TurnierMarch 14, 1995Océane Top 16 (2016)
Cyril LemoineMarch 03, 1983
Luis Ángel MatéMarch 23, 1984
Daniel NavarroJuly 18, 1983
Stéphane RossettoApril 06, 1987
Florian SénéchalJuly 10, 1993
Julien SimonOctober 04, 1985
Geoffrey SoupeMarch 22, 1988
Anthony TurgisMay 16, 1994
Jimmy TurgisAugust 10, 1991Roubaix Métropole européenne de Lille (2016)
Michael Van StaeyenAugust 13, 1988
Jonas van GenechtenSeptember 16, 1986IAM (2016)
Kenneth VanbilsenJune 01, 1990
Clément VenturiniOctober 16, 1993

2016

   RiderDate of birth Previous team 
Jonas AhlstrandFebruary 16, 1990Giant-Shimano (2014)
Yoann BagotSeptember 06, 1987
Nacer BouhanniJuly 25, 1990FDJ.fr (2014)
Rayane BouhanniFebruary 24, 1996
Borut BožičAugust 08, 1980Astana (2015)
Loïc ChetoutSeptember 23, 1992
Jérôme CousinJune 05, 1989
Nicolas EdetDecember 02, 1987
Romain HardyAugust 24, 1988
Hugo HofstetterFebruary 13, 1994CC Étupes (2015)
Arnold JeannessonJanuary 15, 1986FDJ (2015)
Gert JõeäärJuly 09, 1987
Christophe LaporteDecember 11, 1992
Cyril LemoineMarch 03, 1983
Luis Ángel MatéMarch 23, 1984
Rudy MolardSeptember 17, 1989
Daniel NavarroJuly 18, 1983
Anthony PerezApril 22, 1991
Stéphane RossettoApril 06, 1987
Florian SénéchalJuly 10, 1993
Julien SimonOctober 04, 1985
Geoffrey SoupeMarch 22, 1988
Anthony TurgisMay 16, 1994
Michael Van StaeyenAugust 13, 1988
Kenneth VanbilsenJune 01, 1990
Clément VenturiniOctober 16, 1993
Dorian Godon (Aug 01–Dec 31, trainee)May 25, 1996Vulco-VC Vaulx-en-Velin (2016)
Mathias Le Turnier (Aug 01–Dec 31, trainee)March 14, 1995Océane Top 16 (2016)

Major results

Main article: List of Cofidis wins

National Champions

2000
Luxembourgish Time Trial, Stève Fogen
2001
Estonian Road Race, Janek Tombak
2003
Australian Road Race, Stuart O'Grady
Estonian Road Race, Janek Tombak
2005
French Time Trial, Sylvain Chavanel
2006
French Time Trial, Sylvain Chavanel
2008
French Time Trial, Sylvain Chavanel
2009
Estonian Road Race, Rein Taaramäe
Estonian Time Trial, Rein Taaramäe
2010
Estonian Road Race, Kalle Kriit
2011
Estonian Time Trial, Rein Taaramäe
2012
Latvian Road Race, Aleksejs Saramotins
Estonian Time Trial, Rein Taaramäe
2013
Estonian Road Race, Rein Taaramäe
2014
French U23 Cyclo-cross, Clément Venturini
Estonian Time Trial, Gert Jõeäär
2015
Estonian Time Trial, Gert Jõeäär
Estonian Road Race, Gert Jõeäär
2016
Estonian Time Trial, Gert Jõeäär

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cofidis.

References

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