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| 2004 Team |
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COFIDIS
CLEAN-UP MISSION After being embroiled in a drug scandal that began in January, the Cofidis team instituted the most stringent antidoping policies in the peloton. The team had hoped its troubles were behind it, but then on June 25 - just a week-and-a-half before the Tour - it was learned that team leader David Millar confessed to police that he had used EPO. After a huge hit like that, the French squad would love to win a stage or two at the Tour. After Millar was booted from the Tour, the team’s new sprinters Stuart O’Grady and Jimmy Casper may be Cofidis's best hopes for a stage win. In the mountains, Cofidis has high hopes for French climber David Moncoutié, Spaniard Iñigo Cuesta and Italian Guido Trentin.
TEAM
Frédéric Bessy France Age: 32 Wins: 1
Jimmy Casper France Age: 26 Wins: 18
Christophe Edaleine France Age: 24 Wins: 1
Jimmy Engoulvent France Age: 24 Wins: 1
Dmitriy Fofonov Kazakhstan Age: 27 Wins: 3
David Moncoutié France Age: 29 Wins: 9
Stuart O’Grady Australia Age: 30 Wins: 24
Janek Tombak Estonia Age: 27 Wins: 12
Matthew White Australia Age: 30 Wins: 3
Sponsor: Telephone credit company
Web site: www.cofidis.fr
Directeur sportif: Francis Van Londersele
Assistants: Bernard Quilfen, Alain Deloeuil
Budget 2004: $9.6 million
Team created: 1997
2003 wins: 25
Past Tours: 8th year participating; 4 stage
wins, 1 King of the Mountain jersey
(Christophe Rinero, 1998), 1 team
classification win (1998)
EQUIPMENT
Bike: Decathlon
Components: Campagnolo
Wheels: Campagnolo
Apparel: Decathlon
OTHER TEAMS: Ag2R - AB - BLB - COF - CA - CSC - DV - EE - FB - FDJ - GERO - IBB - LS - LOTO - PHO - QSD - RABO - RAGT - SAE - TMO - USPS
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