French WorldTour team Cofidis have signed Swiss rouleur Tom Bohli on a two-year contract to form part of sprinter Elia Viviani's sprint train. Twenty-six-year-old Bohli joins following two years with UAE Team Emirates, and previously spent three seasons with BMC.
Viviani hasn't yet taken a victory this season for Cofidis, who he joined for 2020 from Deceuninck-QuickStep, and so his French team appear to be strengthening his sprint train for the future. Bohli has worked as part of the lead-out for another former Deceuninck-QuickStep sprinter, Fernando Gaviria, at UAE Team Emirates for the past two seasons, and will try to help guide Viviani to more success from next year.
"I'm delighted to be joining Cofidis," Bohli said on the team's website on Friday. "I know that the team has a great set-up, and is committed to getting the best out of each of their riders. I spoke with [team manager] Cédric Vasseur, and am very excited about wearing the Cofidis jersey next season. Professional riders know that this is a benchmark team with a lot of history, and which is progressing very impressively.
"I'm very excited about what I can bring to the team," the Swiss rider continued. "I've had the chance to work with Fernando Gaviria, and now I'm very excited about racing with Elia Viviani.
"I want to take this opportunity to thank UAE Team Emirates for having had faith in me and for helping me to become a better rider and person. I very much enjoyed my time there, and I'll stay good friends with a lot of the members of the team," Bohli said.
Vasseur added: "It's with great satisfaction that we're able to bring Tom on board – a rider who is extremely fast. He's come through both the BMC and UAE set-ups, and will be able to bring that experience with him to our team.
"Tom is a very versatile rider, capable of shining in Grand Tours, in week-long stage races and even in some Classics," Vasseur added. "In addition to being a great help to our team leaders, we're also convinced that he'll be able to find success for himself as a rouleur."
While Bohli only has one career victory to his name – the prologue time trial at the 2016 Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen – he's scored numerous podium places in time-trial stages, including third place in last year's Tour de Romandie prologue and second place there the year before, and will be able to continue his development as a member of a sprint train, now in the service of Viviani for the next two seasons.
