Cofidis have announced that they will be creating a women's team in 2022 to go with their men's WorldTour team and paracycling teams so that the company can show full representation of the Cofidis company.
Cofidis would be the eighth WorldTour team to start up a women's team along with Trek-Segafredo, Team BikeExchange, Movistar Team, Groupama-FDJ, Lotto-Soudal, and most recently, Jumbo-Visma.
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Speaking during the team's online presentation on Friday January 8, team president Thierry Vittu said: "I have the habit of saying that a sports team should be a representation of the Cofidis company.
"We have the men’s pro team and the paracycling section, and they reflect a good part of what the Cofidis company is, but it’s a group of 5,500 people in which the majority are women. So something is missing,
“We will have a women’s team as part of the Cofidis group from 2022. It won’t be this year because we need time to put it together and gather the resources, but in 2022 we will certainly have one.
The team will also be hoping that they can kickstart their winning ways again with the men's team in 2021 after failing to take any major victories in 2020.
Big-name signing, Elia Viviani, didn't manage to raise his arms in victory all year despite some close calls and podiums early in the season.
It was clear he was missing something in the sprints when he went to the Grand Tours with other sprinters having superb years. French champion Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) managed 14 wins in 2020 on his own with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) also performing well.
Meanwhile, their star climber, Guillaume Martin did manage some great performances as well as the mountains jersey at the Vuelta a España, but he too failed to take a win and also fell out of the GC contention at the Tour de France during the second week.
Jumbo-Visma are the latest WorldTour men's team to start up a women's squad, having started up a women's team for this year, making marquee signings such as Marianne Vos and Jip van den Bos. Now with Cofidis and others joining with more investment, it's a good sign for the progression of the women's side of the sport.
