Published on : 05/02/2022
The Cofidis team is getting ready to compete in the first Grand Tour of the season with ambition. The squad will be ready to shine on all terrains with a 'sprint pole' around Simone Consonni and another one, with Guillaume Martin, in order to aim for stage victories in the mountains and to be part of the fight for the general classification.
To regain the momentum of last year. To relive the magical emotion of a stage victory, that moment of grace when a rider, dressed in red and white, raises his arms to the sky. In May 2021, on the roads of the Giro, Victor Lafay offered himself a prestigious victory in Guardia Sanframondi. One year later, the first Grand Tour of the season will start in Hungary, cross Sicily before heading up to the Alps, making a foray into Slovenia and ending in Verona.
Guillaume Martin, the main attraction
For the first time in his career, the rider from Normandy will compete in the Giro. His solid experience in the Grand Tours (5 participations in the Tour de France, 2 in the Vuelta) will be an asset for the three weeks of competition. In his last 5 Grand Tours, Guillaume has always finished in the top 20. His progression is constant since he has two top 10 finishes, at the end of the last Grande Boucle (8th) and of the Vuelta (9th).
Back to racing last Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the climber has done more than three weeks of training in altitude in Sicily, notably on the slopes of Etna, in order to adapt to the Italian roads. He will do everything to be part of the victory in some stages (there will be 6 in the mountains) and to aim for the overall classification.
Guillaume will be supported by the whole team, like Pierre-Luc Périchon, Anthony Perez, Davide Villella, Rémy Rochas, who was very visible during the last Vuelta (15th), and Wesley Kreder. All of these riders, exemplary team-mates, will also be able to do their best to win a stage.
Consonni and Cimolai... Mission sprint!
The sprint finishes - 9 stages including 2 in Hungary - will certainly be very competitive on the roads of the Giro. There will be plenty of opportunities to shine and Cofidis will have a lot to offer. Simone Consonni will be one of them: 2nd in a stage of the Giro d'Italia last year, he has scored 6 top 10 finishes since the beginning of the year. He will be able to count on the support of his compatriot Davide Cimolai, 4th of the last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. During the sprint stages, the whole team will try to put these two Italian riders in the best position, with the will to do everything to raise their arms on the finish line.
QUOTES
Guillaume Martin: "Very happy to discover the Giro".
"The objective will be to do a good or even a very good result in the general classification. I hope to do better than my best performance in a Grand Tour (8th). During the three-week training camp in Sicily and on the slopes of Etna, I worked well and rode well. Of course I only had one day of racing before the Giro (Liège-Bastogne-Liège) so it will be a bit unknown. But I hope to increase my pressure throughout the three weeks and I am very happy to discover this great Tour. It will be a first. I have good memories in Italy having won a stage in the Giro di Sicilia and another in the Giro di Toscana. It's a race that suits climbers very well and that should suit me too!
Simone Consonni: "ready and very motivated
"Of course, we are going there with one objective: the stage win! Last year, I was very close to this success. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to win with Cofidis yet and it would be very special to do it at the Giro. I am very excited to start this great Tour. I have been preparing for it very hard, both by training alone at altitude and during the World Cup on the track. I feel ready and very motivated! This year we have a very strong team that will be competitive on all types of stages. We will do everything to have a strong cohesion and help each other every day to give the best.