Transfer news: Bouhanni extends with Cofidis, Marczynski signs for Lotto-Soudal

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Bouhanni extends with Cofidis

Nacer Bouhanni has extended his contract with the Cofidis team for another year, securing his place until the end of 2017. Bouhanni joined the team at the beginning of this season, after moving over from the FDJ team. He originally signed a two-year deal, which was set to run out next season. Bouhanni has had a challenging first year with the team, abandoning both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana following crashes.

Along with Bouhanni, Cofidis have signed one-year extensions with Daniel Navarro and Geoffrey Soupe to keep them on the team until the end of 2016.

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Cofidis also confirmed that they have signed three new riders for next year, including Bouhanni’s younger brother Rayane. They have also signed French under 23 national champion Hugo Hofstetter, while Borut Bozic will move to the team from Astana. The confirmed last month that Arnold Jeannesson would join the team next season.

Marczynski joins Lotto-Soudal

Polish national champion Tomasz Marczynski will return to the WorldTour next season for the first time since 2013 after signing a contract with Lotto-Soudal, according to Biciciclismo.

Marczynski, who is set to support Michal Kwiatkowski at the World Championships this weekend, has been out of the WorldTour since the collapse of the Vacansoleil team. He spent a year with the CCC Polsat team before stepping down to Continental level with Torku Şekerspor team this season. The 31-year-old beat Etixx-QuickStep’s Michal Golas to win the Polish national title earlier this season and has taken victories at the Tour du Maroc and the Tour of the Black Sea.

Hernandez extends with Tinkoff-Saxo

Jesus Hernandez will ride with Tinkoff-Saxo for at least one more year, after signing a new contract with the team. Hernandez has been a key support rider for Alberto Contador, and one of his closest friends in the peloton, and the deal means that the pair will ride together in Contador’s final season.

"I commit myself 100% to the squad and its leader and place the team goals above any personal ambitions," said Hernández.

"I'm, obviously, delighted to be one more year with what I consider to be the best professional cycling team in the world, led by the best rider in the world, Alberto Contador. It would be my dream to help Alberto win the Tour de France, especially since it will also be the final year of his career.”

Hernández turned professional with Liberty Seguros in 2004, where he rode with Contador for two seasons. He left the team at the end of 2005 but the pair were reunited in 2009 when he joined Astana, he subsequently moved to Saxo Bank with Contador in 2011.

Albasini to stay with Orica-GreenEdge

Orica-GreenEdge are still finalising their line-up for next season but one man that is set to stay is Michael Albasini. The Swiss rider has extended his tenure at the Australian team by another two years, until 2017.

Albasini has been part of the GreenEdge team since its inception in 2012 and is always a large contributor to their win tally, especially at his native Tour de Romandie. “It was very easy for me to decide on staying at ORICA-GreenEDGE because I feel 100% at home on this team,” he said. “I feel the different roles that I have here fit perfectly with the type of rider I am.

“I’m proud that I’m able to pass something on to the younger riders and the perspective of moving towards being a general classification team is something I’m really excited about for us. The team has such deep line-up for the big races and I’m looking forward to doing my best for our aspirations here with guys like (Esteban) Chaves and the Yates brothers.

“At the same time, I’m proud to be able to get my own chance in the races that suit me if the legs are OK. There are certainly some races where I want to give it a real go."

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