Astana approach causes Cofidis to skip Giro: 'The goal is not to race just to race'

Cofidis finished 19th in the UCI world rankings last season. That meant losing their automatic WorldTour spot, but it wasn’t the end of the world — because as a ProTeam they still race in the ProTour and earn a privilege: automatic wildcards for all WorldTour events, without the obligation to start them, unlike WorldTour teams. Cofidis is choosing to take advantage of that flexibility.

“For a ProTeam it’s difficult to ride all three Grand Tours,” Lejeune told DirectVélo. “We are obliged to race in France, which we do with pleasure. We are fully committed to performing well. In May we will head to the Four Days of Dunkirk with high ambitions. It’s also an important month of preparation for the Tour de France — naturally the most important event of the season.”

And that means sacrifices must be made. “If you add the potential for injuries and illnesses, it adds up quickly… Unlike most WorldTour teams, we don’t have a continental squad behind us,” he continued. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to the Giro, which Cofidis likes to ride, but we hope to return as soon as possible.”

The Giro d’Italia isn’t the only WorldTour race the French squad will skip this year. They will also miss the Tour of Catalonia, Tour de Romandie, and Tour de Suisse. In March they won’t line up at Strade Bianche or Tirreno–Adriatico either: instead they will fully concentrate on French races.

“At the same time, we have Paris–Nice, and we can’t try to do too many things at once,” Lejeune explained. “The goal isn’t to race just for the sake of racing. We want to show our jersey when we line up — and I don’t mean a breakaway for publicity, I mean feeling our presence and achieving results.”

That’s why Cofidis has also chosen to go to Asia. They were often absent there in the past, but will now try to pick up points in races on the continent. “We saw last year that Astana raced a lot in Asia for points. If other teams are doing it, why shouldn’t we? We will discover new races and there will be a real drive to do that. It’s also beneficial for the development of our young riders.”

With Cofidis not racing the Giro d’Italia, a spot has opened up. That place could now go to Burgos BH, Caja Rural–Seguros RGA, Equipo Kern Pharma, or TotalEnergies. Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and Polti VisitMalta are also likely to receive wildcards.