Cofidis (cycling team)
| File:Cofidis logo.jpg | ||
| Team information | ||
|---|---|---|
| UCI code | COF | |
| Registered |  France | |
| Founded | 1997 | |
| Discipline(s) | Road | |
| Status | UCI Professional Continental | |
| Bicycles | Look | |
| Key personnel | ||
| General manager | Eric Boyer | |
| Team name history | ||
1997–present | Cofidis | |
| ||
Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne (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 team of the 1980s. The team's sponsor, François Migraine, the chief executive of Cofidis 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 Migraine. An acquisition was Lance Armstrong, formerly of Motorola. Armstrong was dropped[1] because of his cancer and another American, Bobby Julich, became leader for stage races. Julich's place in the first three of the 1998 Tour de France brought the team to the spotlight, and Frank Vandenbroucke brought further results in classics. That year, Cofidis finished as the Top Team in the Tour.
Years of drought followed as Julich and Vandenbroucke switched teams. Vandenbroucke's Belgian compatriots, Nico Mattan, Chris Peers, Peter Farazijn, and Jo Planckaert, stayed on but were criticised for inconsistent performance. Cofidis began payng 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 compete unadventurously to be sure of good placings at the finish. They debated the issue publicly with the manager, Alain Bondue, and left.
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. 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]
2012 team
As of 10 January 2012.[5]
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Major results
2006
- 1st Tour du Haut Var, Leonardo Bertagnolli
- 1st Classic Haribo, Arnaud Coyot
- 1st Stage 6 Tirreno-Adriatico, Leonardo Bertagnolli
- 1st GP Cholet, Chris Sutton
- 1st GP de Denain, Jimmy Casper
- 1st Stage 7 Giro d'Italia, Rik Verbrugghe
- 1st Overall Tour de Picardie, Jimmy Casper
- 1st Stage 3, Jimmy Casper
- 1st France Time Trial Championships, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de France, Jimmy Casper
- 1st Overall Tour du Limousin, Leonardo Duque
- 1st Stage 3, Stéphane Auge
- 1st Overall Tour du Poitou Charentes, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de l'Avenir, Nicolas Roche
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de Pologne, Stéphane Auge
2007
- 1st Overall Etoile de Bessèges, Nick Nuyens
- 1st Stage 3, Nick Nuyens
- 1st GP Cholet, Stéphane Auge
- 1st Stage 5 Circuit de la Sarthe, Chris Sutton
- 1st Stage 1 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Bradley Wiggins
- 1st Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Bradley Wiggins
- 1st Stage 2 GP CTT Correios de Portugal, Tyler Farrar
- 1st Stage 3 Route du Sud, Amaël Moinard
- 1st Prologue Eneco Tour, Michiel Elijzen
- 1st Stage 1 Eneco Tour, Nick Nuyens
- 1st Châteauroux Classic, Chris Sutton
- 1st Stage 1 Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Chris Sutton
- 1st Stage 4 Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Bradley Wiggins
- 1st Stage 16 Vuelta a España, Leonardo Duque
- 1st Duo Normand, Bradley Wiggins & Michiel Elijzen
2008
- 1st GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Hervé Duclos-Lassalle
- 1st Stage 4 Tour Méditerranéen, Leonardo Duque
- 1st Stage 5 Tour Méditerranéen, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 6 Paris-Nice, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Brabantse Pijl, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 2 Circuit de la Sarthe, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Overall 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Stéphane Auge
- 1st Stage 1, Stéphane Auge
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Picardie, Jean-Eudes Demaret
- 1st Stage 5 Volta a Catalunya, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st France Time Trial Championships, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de France, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 19 Tour de France, Sylvain Chavanel
- 1st Stage 7 Deutschland-Tour, Stéphane Auge
- 1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 1st File:Jersey puntosazules.png Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stages 2 & 5 Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Samuel Dumoulin
- 2nd Ronde van Vlaanderen, Nick Nuyens
2009
- 1st GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Rémi Pauriol
- 1st Stage 5 Etoile de Bessèges, Jean-Eudes Demaret
- 1st Stage 6 Tour Méditerranéen, David Moncoutié
- 1st GP di Lugano, Rémi Pauriol
- 1st Stage 1 Tirreno-Adriatico, Julien El Fares
- 1st Stage 5 Circuit de la Sarthe, Jean-Eudes Demaret
- 1st Stage 7 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, David Moncoutié
- 1st
Estonia Road Race Championships, Rein Taaramäe - 1st Estonia Time Trial Championships, Rein Taaramäe
- 1st Overall Tour de Wallonie, Julien El Fares
- 1st Overall Tour de l'Ain, Rein Taaramäe
- 1st Stage 1, Mickaël Buffaz
- 1st Stage 4, Rein Taaramäe
- 1st Stage 2 Tour du Limousin, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 13 Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 1st File:Jersey puntosazules.png Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 3rd Overall Tour de Romandie, Rein Taaramäe
2010
- 1st Stage 2 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 3, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 4 Tour Méditerranéen, Julien El Fares
- 1st GP Insubria, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Le Samyn, Jens Keukeleire
- 1st Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Jens Keukeleire
- 1st Stage 1, Jens Keukeleire
- 1st Stage 7 Paris-Nice, Amaël Moinard
- 1st Nokere-Koerse, Jens Keukeleire
- 1st GP Cholet, Leonardo Duque
- 1st Stage 6 Volta a Catalunya, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 4 Circuit de la Sarthe, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Paris-Camembert, Sébastien Minard
- 1st Stage 17 Giro d'Italia, Damien Monier
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Luxembourg, Tony Gallopin
- 1st Overall Route du Sud, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stage 2b, David Moncoutié
- 1st Estonia Road Race Championships, Kalle Kriit
- 1st Overall Paris-Corrèze, Mickaël Buffaz
- 1st Stage 1, Mickaël Buffaz
- 1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 1st File:Jersey puntosazules.png Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 2nd Overall Volta a Catalunya, Rein Taaramäe
2011
- 1st Stage 3 Etoile de Bessèges, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Overall Tour Mediterranéen, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stage 5, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stage 1 Tour du Haut Var, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stages 5 & 7 Volta a Catalunya, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Flèche d'Emeraude, Tony Gallopin
- 1st Tartu GP, Jean-Eudes Demaret
- 1st Stage 4 Route du Sud, Luis Ángel Maté
- 1st Estonia Time Trial Championships, Rein Taaramäe
- 1st Stage 3 Österreich-Rundfahrt, Jens Keukeleire
- 1st Overall Paris-Corrèze, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 1, Samuel Dumoulin
- 1st Stage 2 Danmark Rundt, Remy Cusin
- 1st Overall Tour de l'Ain, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stage 2 Tour du Limousin, Tony Gallopin
- 1st Stage 11 Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
- 1st Stage 14 Vuelta a España, Rein Taaramäe
- 1st File:Jersey puntosazules.png Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España, David Moncoutié
2012
- 1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Samuel Dumoulin
- 3rd Overall Etoile de Bessèges, Rein Taaramäe
See also
References
- ^ "Its Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/8785976.stm
- ^ With cycling in crisis, Tour de France organizers revamp race for 2008 – Cycling – Yahoo! Sports
- ^ [1]
- ^ Philippon, Alexandre (5 January 2012). "Équipes 2012: Cofidis". Velochrono.fr (in French). Velochrono. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
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