The Cofidis team have shaken up their roster for 2025 and created a new 'performance cell' as they fight to stay in the men's WorldTour.
The French team has slipped to 18th in the three-year team ranking and so risks falling out of the WorldTour in 2026-2028 if Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Uno-X Mobility and XDS Astana score more points in 2025.
Team manager Cedric Vasseur has changed 12 riders of the 30-rider roster, with Guillaume Martin, Alex Zingle, and Harrison Wood leaving while Gorka Izagirre and Simon Geschke retire.
New signings include Emanuel Buchmann, Alex Aranburu, Simon Carr, and Dylan Teuns. Bryan Coquard, Jesús Herrada, Benjamin Thomas and Ion Izagirre remain as protected riders.
Cofidis also have a new red, purple and yellow jersey made by Etxeondo and will ride Campagnolo-equipped Look bikes. The changes behind the scenes are bigger than the jersey and the rider roster.
Italian coach Mattia Michelusi leads the new 'performance cell' of seven new staff. Michelusi worked with Dimension Data and NTT Pro Cycling in the past and has brought in coaches Luca Quinti, Luca Festa, Matthieu Desfontainem, and Bart Nonneman.
The staff began working with the 2025 Cofidis rider at a recent training camp in Spain.
"We want to optimize everything that is part of performance," Michelusi explained.
"The idea is to find the right alloy between all the aspects related to performance. We want to gather the pieces of the puzzle, assemble them and put them in the right place."
"We are keen to work with people who come from other countries and who have a different sports culture," Michelusi said. "It is important to learn from the best to help the group progress."
In this same approach, the team can count on Niklas Quetri, 'bike fitter', who will be responsible for improving aerodynamics and Briton Scott Gilham, who comes on board as nutritionist.
Gillham previously worked for the England rugby team and then the McLaren motor racing team that raced the Le Mans 24-hour race. He has recently completed a PhD and is a lecturer at Liverpool University.
"In every environment I have worked in, I have tried to learn as much as possible about athletes, their needs and how to improve their nutrition and performance," he said.
