Are Cofidis the real deal?

Etoile de Bessèges is a big race at the start of the French season. Not a Tour or Paris-Nice or Dauphine but significant enough to be a benchmark. In my view.

The race started earlier this week and so far (in typically French style) has been about renaissance.

Stage 1 saw former World Champion Mads Pedersen return to form and look ominous for the upcoming cobbled classics with a win on a climb that looked really impressive.

But it was stage 2 and 3 that got the home crowd wagging their tongues.

Rnk	Rider	Team	UCI	Pnt	Time
1	COQUARD Bryan	Cofidis	14	20	3:41:46
2	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek – Segafredo	5	12	,,
3	JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	3	7	,,
4	BURGAUDEAU Mathieu	TotalEnergies		5	,,
5	BETTIOL Alberto	EF Education-EasyPost		4	0:04
6	THOMAS Benjamin	Cofidis		3	,,
7	SWIFT Connor	Team Arkéa Samsic		2	,,
8	MENTEN Milan	Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB		1	,,
9	CHAMPOUSSIN Clément	AG2R Citroën Team			,,
10	LATOUR Pierre	TotalEnergies

Forgotten man of French cycling Bryan Coquard has moved across to Cofidis from B&B Hotels during the winter and most pundits saw this as a last big pay cheque and a swansong.

But he climbed (yes climbed) his way to win stage 2 leaving some real quality in his wake.

It was a brilliant return to form for a nearly man who lost his way as a sprinter before trying his luck in breakaways. This win is a really positive sign.

Today proved it was no fluke for the boys in red and white when Benjamin Thomas repeated the feat.

Rnk	Rider	Team	UCI	Pnt	Time
1	THOMAS Benjamin	Cofidis	14	20	3:38:31
2	BETTIOL Alberto	EF Education-EasyPost	5	12	0:09
3	JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	3	7	,,
4	TILLER Rasmus	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team		5	0:15
5	COQUARD Bryan	Cofidis		4	,,
6	BOASSON HAGEN Edvald	TotalEnergies		3	,,
7	HOFSTETTER Hugo	Team Arkéa Samsic		2	,,
8	CHAMPOUSSIN Clément	AG2R Citroën Team		1	,,
9	ULISSI Diego	UAE Team Emirates			,,
10	ZIMMERMANN Georg	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux			,,

If you throw in Guillame Martins innovative and almost successful attack in the GP of Marseille at the weekend is this finally the return to form of one of the pelotons longest serving teams?

I hope so… but let’s give it another month and see. Just to be sure.