Cofidis is ready for the Tour de France starting on Saturday from Barcelona and will tackle the 113th edition of the Grande Boucle with a clear objective: hunting for stage wins. Whether it's sprinter stages or rolling terrain, the French team wants to approach every day of racing with a combative spirit, and to do so the technical staff have called up experienced athletes starting with Benjamin Thomas, at his seventh Grand Tour of his career, who will be something of the race director on the road.

Beyond the 30-year-old from Lavaur, another man of extreme importance will be Milan Fretin. The Belgian's objective, at his first Tour de France of his career, will be to be a protagonist in the sprints and try to secure personal victories; supporting him will be his fellow countrymen  Piet Allegaert and  Jenthe Biermans as well as the newly crowned Luxembourg time trial champion Alex Kirsch.

Hugo Page, the second Frenchman in the team selected for the Tour, will instead play a dual role: he will help Fretin prepare for the sprints but will also have "freedom" of movement in the breakaway stages.

The Cofidis selection is completed by two Iberian athletes: Ion Izagirre and Alex Aranburu. The first, 37 years old and winner this season of the  Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, in stages with rolling terrain will launch himself into breakaways to hunt for personal success, just as happened in 2023 when Ion won at the Belleville en Beaujolais finish line. The second, who will turn 31 in September, will come into action in stages with demanding terrain with the objective of adding victories to his seasonal record which currently includes wins in the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country and the third stage of the Baloise Tour.

To further clarify the roles and objectives of the transalpine team, General Manager Raphael Jeune intervened, stating: «Our team instructions are clear, we must approach every stage as if it were a Classic, exploiting the opportunities we will have to win».