Today it was confirmed that one of the most promising french stageracers, Jérôme Coppel, will ride for Cofidis in 2013. The french rider from the Haute Savoie region has ridden the Tour de France for the last two years for his team Saur-Sojasun with some mixed success. In 2011 he finished 14th and this year in 21st place after some disappointing finishes in the mountains. His talent is undisputed though and he has had some bad luck with injury and illness in July.
At Cofidis the current stageracing hope is estonian Rein Taaramäe and the two are pretty evenly matched in skillsets if Taaramäe stays at Cofidis for 2013. Both are good allrounders with Coppel possessing the stronger timetrial while the estonian is the punchier, more attacking rider of the two. For Cofidis the arrival of a french hope for the overall in the stageraces is welcome as they lately have often struggled to be relevant outside the battle for breakaway stagewins. Signing Coppel might be the first step in rejuvenating the team after some lean years that resulted in the sponsor replacing team manager Eric Boyer with former Astana Yvon Sanquer just before the summer.