After the Cofidis team were relegated from the WorldTour at the end of the 2023-2025 ranking period, the French outfit made sweeping changes to their management and calendar that have turned their fortunes around.
Under new General Manager Raphael Jeune, Cofidis have already won six times this year - most recently winning stage 4 of the Presidential Tour of Turkey with Stanisław Aniołkowski - and are ranked 13th in the most recent UCI Team Rankings.
"Losing the WorldTour license was a difficult moment for the whole team," Aniołkowski told Wielerflits.nl. "But our sponsor still has faith in us. We had three less-than-good years, and eventually we were relegated by a margin of only 300 points [actually 397 -ed], I believe. We kept fighting until the final races in China and Japan, but unfortunately, it didn't work out. That was a lesson for us."
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For much of last season, Cofidis were in a tight back-and-forth battle with Uno-X Mobility for the final WorldTour licence for 2026 through 2028.
Now racing as a ProTeam, the team are no longer obligated to race a full WorldTour schedule, although as a top ProTeam, WorldTour race organisers are obligated to extend them an invitation.
Over the last three years, Cofidis raced more than any other team, averaging 121 races each year compared to bigger budget teams like Ineos, who raced just 59 on average, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who averaged 95.
Additionally, their packed calendar was raced by the same maximum 30-rider roster as the other WorldTour teams, putting a lot of added stress and fatigue on each rider.
This year, they've pared back their top-level schedule, skipping the Giro d'Italia, and only racing 17 WorldTour races compared with 34 last year, and only 83 races total.
"As a team, we also have to do all the French races," climber Emanuel Buchmann told the Dutch news outlet. "Last year, we had to ride all the WorldTour races and I think that was a bit too much for us.
"It is good that we are only doing two Grand Tours this year. You can feel the difference this year, because everyone has fewer race days and is fresher at the start. That makes a big difference. Of course, the points are important. We want to get back to the WorldTour, that is the goal, so we are really fighting for those UCI points this year."
The team started the year strongly, with a victory in the GP de Marseille with Bryan Coquard, a stage of Ruta del Sol with Milan Fretin, the GP Miguel Indurain with veteran Ion Izagirre and a stage in Itzulia with Alex Aranburu.
"As you can see, we have started this season very well, because we are now somewhere around the top 10 of this year's team ranking [13th - ed]," Aniołkowski said. "We have changed our mentality. We have a new plan and we are following that plan."
Cofidis are currently far ahead of Picnic-PostNL, who only managed their first win in Turkey on Thursday and are 2,194 points behind 18th-ranked Lotto-Intermarché. ProTeams TotalEnergies, Tudor and Pinarello-Q36.5 are ahead of the German WorldTour team, too.
A focus on scoring points over victories runs counter to the philosophy of ex-manager Cédric Vasseur, and appears to be paying off.
Sylvain Moniquet is looking on the bright side, noting that his programme of ProSeries races gives him more freedom to fight for points.
"I am really motivated for those points. I would love to go to the Tour [de France], but I also have a nice program in this team where I sometimes get a free role," Moniquet said to Wielerflits.
Cofidis can't call their three-year project to rejoin the WorldTour a success quite yet. They were 15th at the end of 2023 but finished the next two years in 20th in the UCI Team Rankings. They will have to continue to fight for every point.
"Those points are perhaps even more important than a victory," Moniquet said. "Look at the Tour of Turkey: Stan wins, but I don't know how many points that is, 25 maybe? Turkey is not the biggest race on the calendar, but we always have to ride a good general classification for the points; that is really important. Even in ProSeries races."
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