Jacopo Guarnieri (Team Katusha)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Best young rider Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rudy Molard (Cofidis) cruises around at the start of Stage 3(Image credit: Alberto Brevers)
Thibaut Pinot and his FDJ teammates
FDJ team manager Marc Madiot answers questions from the press(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
French WorldTour team FDJ have announced its first signings for the 2017 and 2018 seasons via its social media accounts. Italian Jacopo Guarnieri, 28, will make the move over from Katusha to bolster the sprint train of Arnaud Demare after two seasons with the Russian team.
Swede Tobias Ludvigsson also joins FDJ as he makes the move across from Giant-Alpecin with the 25-year-old to be an important time trailer and domestique.
The third rider to join the team is 26-year-old Rudy Molard (Cofidis) with the Frenchman to change teams for the first time in his career.
FDJ announced several contract extensions during the 2016 Tour de France but the trio are its first confirmed singings for the upcoming season.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot will again be the key general classification rider for the team with FDJ building a squad around his tilt for Tour glory. Pinot was enjoying one of his best seasons yet before illness struck him down and he was forced to abandon the Tour and then miss the Rio Olympic Games.
Demare is the other key rider on FDJ's books with the 2015 Milan-San Remo rider leading its sprint and classics aspirations. While the signing of Ludvigsson is more likely to be of benefit to Pinot, the addition of Guarnieri is purely to strengthen Demare's sprint train.
For a full and regularly updated list of 2016-2017 rider transfers, click here.
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