Cofidis is trying to complete a metamorphosis by purchasing a lot of new riders this season. They're hoping to get rid of the old dopingscandals which are still being raked up in court. With renewed sense and a lot of new riders, manager Eric Boyer will try to turn Cofidis in this years most successful French team. And he does have a lot of good riders in his team, but he is missing a real winning sprinter, like Hushovd in competitor Crédit Agricole’s team.


In general he has a number of excellent riders, but nobody who has been a very regular winner. Or even worse: a lot of riders didn't live up to the expectation at all. The Dutch Elijzen and Heijboer had an unlucky first season and the other youngsters like Sutton, Valentin and Farrar couldn't show their talents either. The same goes for climber Parra and prologue-specialist Wiggins.


That's why Boyer decided he had to change gears. Nick Nuyens turned down his other offers and chose for adventure in France. The striker Boyer was looking for, and scored with 'The bomb from Bevel'. Nuyens persuaded his buddy Kevin de Weert to follow him in leaving Quickstep and joining Cofidis. With veteran Frank Høy, who left Gerolsteiner to ride his last season under French control, Cofidis is rapidly building a classicsteam from scratch. So Nuyens will get the option to show himself since he is no longer riding in service of Boonen, Bettini or Pozzato. By attracting Zampieri the team says to be more present in the climbing stages, but it looks like the Swiss rider won't exceed his status as a fine team helper.


At the other end, there were departures of Bertagnolli (Liquigas), the loss of Tyler Farrar who went to Discovery Channel, the talented Coyot (Unibet) and Luis Perez (CSC). Casper (Unibet) was also one of the leaving riders after being on the team for quite a while. This rider who surprisingly won the first Tour stage announced he'd sign for another two years at Cofidis in july, but eventually signed with the new ProTour team Unibet. This shows the ongoing balance in the team. But the revendication on strengthening the team any further has been lost by the expensive purchase that is Nuyens.


With the always sound Verbrugghe and Moreni and a better season for Montfort and Moncoutié, Boyer will have a team capable of scoring a good grade. By taking some risks (Wiggins putting everything on the prologue in London and Nuyens being the only real striker) Boyer will be praying to lady luck for his share of wins. If she decides otherwise, the future looks grim and the season could be as disappointing as last year.


New:
Mickaël Buffaz (Agritubel), Kevin de Weert, Nick Nuyens (Quickstep), Maryan Hary (Bouygues Telecom), Frank Høj (Gerolsteiner), Steve Zampieri (Phonak), Nicolas Hartmann, Yann Huguet (neo)


Departed:
Leonardo Bertagnolli (Liquigas), Jimmy Casper, Arnaud Coyot (Unibet), Thierry Marichal (Française des Jeux), Luis Pérez (CSC), Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole), Nicolas Inaudi, Fabien Sanchez (unknown), Tyler Farrar (DSC)